Related
by Otje
Summary: Thanks to innovations in science and technology Cass has another chance to find her mother but who she finds isn't her mother...
1. Chapter 1

I don't own any of the characters, DC does.

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 **Related**

Cass was mad. No, not mad, she was fuming. She just came back from a visit with Cain at Blackgate and he had again refused to tell her who her mother was.  
When she arrived at Barbara's Clock Tower the older girl didn't even have to ask how the meeting had gone. Cass' behavior told her all she needed to know. 'That bastard' she thought, "Cass", she said to the angry teenager who had planted herself on the couch, "have you ever tried to find your mother by using a DNA-test?"  
Cass looked at her with an surprised expression and questioning eyes, "A what-test?"  
"A DNA-test, it determines who you are related to by using genetic material and matching it to a database. Do you want to try it?", Barbara answered.  
Cass nodded and quickly moved off of the and in the direction of the operating room where all Oracles equipment was. Barbara had to suppress a smile as she followed the younger girl.

After taking a swipe from the inside of Cass' cheek she fed it to the machinery that would identify the necessary markers to do the test. When she told the girl that this would take several hours she could literally see her good mood disappear and in an effort to cheer Cass up she proposed to watch a movie and pronounced the rest of the afternoon 'girl time'.  
Cass smiled at her antics and agreed to stay, Barbara had a lot of movies and due to having Cain as a father she had never seen any of them when she was small.

Two movies later (Tangled and The Princess Bride) they were talking about how unlikely the movies were in real life when a beeping sound told them the analysis was done. Now Barbara could start a search trough the combined database of several agencies, police departments and that of batman himself. She told Cass that this would again take some time but this time the girl just nodded and said "I'll wait."  
For a moment Barbara was inclined to just let her when a call for Oracle came in through the computer, she pressed the accept button and immediately a nearly hyper-kinetic voice filled the room. "Spoiler, calm down and state your business. I gave you this number for emergencies only", oracle said.  
"Well, this is an emergency", spoiler replied, "Cass and I were going to do patrol together tonight but she isn't here and she is never ever late."  
After Spoilers tirade Cass winced and quickly left the room to get her Batgirl getup while Barbara assured Spoiler that everything was all right with Cass and that she was about to leave for patrol.

When Cass came back in, fully clad as Batgirl, she heard Barbara end her conversation with Spoiler saying "Steph, just stay where you are, Cass will be there soon, ETA 3 minutes.".  
She then turned her wheelchair to face Cass and said "The search will probably be done when you get back but Cass, don''t get your hopes up to high. It is far from certain that your mother is in any of the databases I have access to.".  
Cass just nodded and left through the window to meet up with Steph.

When she came back after playing a last game of rooftop tag with Steph and Robin, who had joined them near the end of their patrol, she found Barbara asleep with her head almost on her keyboard. Cass was going to let her sleep because she certainly needed it when suddenly a pop-up showing Batman appeared on the screen. "Oracle, why are you conducting a search with restricted data of my operatives?", he growled.  
As everyone who worked with Batman his voice was enough to wake Barbara up and after a few seconds to collect her wits she answered "I used your database to be real thorough while looking for any possible relatives of Batgirl. We haven't tried to find her mother that way before so there was a chance, however slim, that we might get results.".  
Batman just said "Next time, tell me", then he simply ended the conversation by closing the pop-up.

Barbara then visibly relaxed. It took her a moment to notice she wasn't alone and just as Cass was about to make some noise to be sure Barbara knew she was there, the aforementioned said "Cass, if you come closer we can look at the results of the search.".  
Cass went to stand next to Barbara who opened another screen that said the search had been done at 11:54 PM and that there were two hits. Barbara opened the program to look who it were. The first one was, unsurprisingly, David Cain while the second one was restricted. It took her a few minutes to hack the rather impressive encription and open the file. After it was opened she almost immediately said "This can't be right!".

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 **This chapter is updated because it was in conflict with the next one** (that I will post soon).

Please R&R. This is the first fanfic I've posted and I don't have a beta so if anyone is interested, please contact me. Also, please tell me if I made any mistakes when it comes to English because I'm not a native speaker (I'm Flemish) and I'm still learning.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the new chapter, hope you like it.

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When Nightwing entered the Clock Tower (after nearly half an hour of disarming all the alarms set up at any possible entrance) the first thing he heard was Barbara exclaiming "This can't be right!", "What can't be right, Babs?" he then asked.  
"Dick?"  
"Yeah, it's me, what's wrong?" he asked while entering the operating room where he saw Barbara and Cass in front of the main screen which displayed a file he didn't know was still accessible. "What are you doing with Jason's file?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.  
"We don't know." the answer came, "We were looking for relatives of Cass but the only match the computer shows is Jason and he was Caucasian, right?".  
"I think so, but how close a relative are we speaking because it is possible, even if it is far fetched, that he is her cousin on Cain's side or something more distant, but that would mean Willis Todd or Sheila Haywood would have to be related to Cain or Cass' mother by blood."  
"Um Dick, with the amount of DNA they seem to share they would have to be siblings." Babs told Dick.  
Cass, who hadn't said a word since Dick had entered the room, looked at them both with big eyes and asked "I have a brother?"  
"Yeah, looks like it, Cass." Dick answered while Barbara began typing at a very high pace and told them "I'll double check everything if you two can look for a secondary sample from Jason."  
"Will do Babs" Dick said while Cass simply nodded after which they both readjusted their masks and were about to leave through the window when they heard "Send Robin if you see him, he can speed things up", Dick yelled "Okay" back and they both left for the cave.

When they entered the Batcave they found Bruce behind the computer, typing out a report before he left for a late patrol, and Tim was sparring against virtual assassins.  
Dick immediately went for Bruce to ask him for the sample with Cass following right behind him. When he was next to his late mentor he asked "Bruce, do you still have multiple DNA-samples for any of us?"  
"Yes, I do. Why?"  
"Babs did a test and had some surprising results so we'd like to double check everything to be certain we make no mistakes." Dick answered, By then Cass had deduced that she wouldn't be of any help during the ongoing conversation and went over to the training area to see if Tim wanted to spar. Neither of the men noticed her leaving and they went on for some time with Bruce wanting to know everything about their investigation and Dick telling the least possible because he knew Bruce didn't like to speak about Jason.  
Cass and Tim were sparring when then heard how the others started yelling at each other for some reason. They stopped as Tim proposed to go see what they were arguing about this time and Cass, having some idea about the cause of the fight could be but unwilling to explain, agreed.

When they rounded the corner they saw them both standing in front of each other on the platform that housed the computer. Dick swaying his arms as if trying to get a point across and Bruce calm and stoic, so basically the layout for every fight they had.  
The younger was nearly screaming about how Cass had a right to know while the older was arguing that he wouldn't let them disturb Jason's memory.  
"He has been through enough, the least he deserves is peace in death. And now you want to rob him of that too."  
"No, we just want Cass to know the truth, it is possible she had a brother and you know Jason would have wanted to know too. After all he died trying to save his mother, family was probably the most important thing for him and you think he wouldn't want us to find out if he had a family? Let me tell you, he would have jumped at the opportunity."  
"He deserves his rest and that is the end of it. We won't discuss this any further. Now leave, I want to finish my report."  
"Oh no" Dick said "You don't get to dismiss us on this. It is not your place to decide, we all know you have done anything you possibly could to forget that Jason ever lived here, you try to deny his very existence."  
"You don't get to say that, you even ignored him even when he was alive just because you were angry I made him Robin."  
"Will you please stop!" Tim interrupted them "You are both acting like children … and yes I understand that this is important to the both of you" he quickly continued as they were about to interrupt him "But don't you think Cass should get say in this, after all he's probably her brother."  
After that there was a silence of a few seconds before Dick, looking ashamed of himself, said "Yes, yes, you're right.". Bruce didn't say anything but for a fraction of a second his face showed a guilty expression so Tim asked Cass what she thought of the matter.  
She thought for a moment before she started telling them something by using sign language but Bruce interrupted her and told her to speak so she started over saying "I want to learn about my family but I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable." she said, mainly looking at Bruce.  
He told her in return "If you really want this I'll let you but I want to be there when you do it, to see that everything is left in its original state." and Dick nodded at this. Then Bruce continued "Cassandra, I want to know everything you find out."  
Tim then heard Dick grumble under his breath "Now he cares." but didn't say anything.  
Afterwards they decided to go to Jason's grave the next day because it was already past midnight and Tim had school in the morning and he was at the moment kind of the only thing that prevented a new yelling session between Bruce and Dick.  
Dick and Cass were about to leave and go back to Barbara when Dick thought of Babs' request and asked Tim "Can you get over to Babs' tomorrow, she asked for your help.", Tim then said he would come over after school and Cass and Dick left using the tunnel, both still dressed as their alter ego's: Batgirl and Nightwing.

When they arrived at the Clock Tower Barbara had obviously heard them enter because as soon as they entered the room she began talking to them while still working on the computer "I tested the sample I had of Jason against Willis Todd, Sheila Haywood and even Catherine Todd but none were a match, Cain was though."  
"So that means that either Jason wasn't who he thought he was or we have a sample of who knows who stored under his name, right?" Dick stated.  
Babs nodded absentmindedly but Cass was now really interested "That means I do have a sibling, even if it is not Jason?".  
"Yeah, I guess so." he answered, then asked what Babs was still doing.  
"Nothing important, just some things I want to get done;" she answered him.  
Obviously not accepting this he picked her up, slung her over his shoulder and brought her to her bedroom "Well those things you can finish tomorrow, now you're going to sleep because even the invincible Oracle needs sleep every now and then.". With that he was about to leave the room when he heard her mutter half-asleep "Good night Boy Wonder."  
He chuckled at this and turned back to peck her on sleep and whispering "Sweet dreams Babs" in her ear before leaving the bedroom and entering the living room.

There he saw Cass had already left for her own apartment. He guessed she would be back in the morning and made himself comfortable on the couch intending to spent the night in the Babs' Clock Tower since he didn't have an apartment of his own in Gotham and he wasn't looking forward to crashing at the Manor after the fight with Bruce. It didn't take him long to fall asleep since a few minutes later soft snoring could be heard, coming from the couch.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3, hope you like it. I still don't have a beta so any mistake is purely my own, if you are interested in being my beta please contact me because as I said earlier I am no a native speaker so it is very likely I made some blunders along the way.  
Anyway I still do not own Batman or anything related to him.

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The first thing Barbara noticed when she woke up that morning was that she'd actually slept in her bed last night and not on her desk like most other nights when she just fell asleep while working on something she wanted to get done. But then she noticed she was still wearing her clothes from the previous day and that was enough to make her remember how hectic the day before had been. How in the end Dick had carried her to her bed to force her to sleep because he knew her well enough to know that otherwise she would most likely have pulled an all-nighter.  
That reminded her, if he had carried her where was her wheelchair? It wasn't in her room so she groaned and yelled "Dick!".  
She heard shuffling on the other side of the wall and moments later Dick's head appeared in the doorway. His hair was flat on one side and spiked on the other, she had obviously woken him up but right now she couldn't care less.  
"Dick my chair."  
"As you wish princess" he said sleepily as he entered the bedroom before picking her up bridal style.  
She looked up surprised and said "I meant bring it to me!".  
"What and missing a chance to carry you, no way!" he replied with an all out grin on his face.  
Then they entered the operating room where she saw her chair standing in the exact spot it had been last night and he put her down in it after which she headed for the bathroom.

When she came back out she heard noise coming from the kitchen. She quickly went that way while running over doom scenarios in her head since it was common knowledge that Dick couldn't cook if his life depended on it. So naturally she was relieved to see that the kitchen it was still standing when she entered and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  
Dick almost laughed at her very obvious check up of the kitchen and instead pointed towards her place at the kitchen-table where she could see a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee.  
She looked to make sure it wasn't the ridiculously sugary kind of cereal that Dick was addicted at, she had spent hours getting every box of it out of her apartment after his last stay and even then she'd found a box while doing repairs on her computer the previous week. But clearly she'd done her job well since her bowl was filled with regular cereal.  
They ate in a semblance of silence with Dick humming songs and Barbara rolling her eyes every time he changed songs in the middle of one.

After breakfast Dick went to the bathroom while Barbara put their plates and cutlery in the dishwasher before heading towards the operating room. The previous night when Dick had decided it was time for her to go to bed the DNA-tests had still been running and they should be done by now so she opened the necessary screens and was about to look at the results when Dick came in. He put a kiss on the top of her head and leaned on the back of her chair to look over her shoulder while she opened the results.  
That they weren't the ones they'd been expecting was the least you could say.  
They said that Jason hadn't been related to any of his supposed parents, not to Willis Todd, Sheila Haywood or even Catherine Todd. He was however to David Cain and Cass.  
"Okay we **so** need another sample to confirm this." Barbara said while Dick simply exclaimed "Wow!" and nodded to acknowledge that he'd heard her.  
She turned her head to see his face and saw how his blue eyes were wide with surprise, he clearly hadn't expected the second test to come back positive too.  
Dick stood there a bit shell shocked, he absolutely hadn't expected this and who could blame him for being surprised when he found out that the boy he had come to look at as a younger brother was related to two of the most deadly assassins in the world.

When Dick had brought some order in his thoughts a bit he looked back at the screen and saw Barbara end a message to Bruce that contained the results of their search and send it.  
It took even less than a minute before a video feed opened and Batman appeared on the screen, his face uneasy for a fraction of a second at the sight of Dick but then again an emotionless mask. "I take it you want the sample as soon as possible." he said more as a statement than a question.  
Nevertheless Dick nodded and heard Barbara say "Yes." quite firmly.  
Batman gave one curt nod at this and started typing some things on his end of the screen, not that they could see what it was.  
After a silence that felt excruciatingly long to Dick Batman started talking again "Be at the Manor at 10:45 PM this evening." and after having said that closed the feed.  
"Great, another night with the old man." Dick sighed and walked out of the room. Barbara could hear him take something from the fridge but didn't pay much attention to it as she had other things to do. She had promised Spoiler and Batgirl to look into a lead they had in a case of theirs and right now she didn't have anything better to do so it was as good as any distraction because she really didn't want to know what she was going to do if she let her mind wander on Jason.

The lead from the girls turned out to a real break through for the case and she ended up working at it for hours until she heard someone knocking on the door. Knowing it couldn't be Dick since he'd zeta-ed to Blüdhaven for work she was pretty curious who it could be so she quickly rolled her chair to the door and looked through the peeping hole to see Tim there. She then remembered that she had asked him to come over for some help with the case the day before. She opened the door to let him in and said "Hey Tim." he greeted her back with a smile a little bit too big to not be forced so she asked him what was wrong.  
"Well … you probably remember the argument between Bruce and Dick right? Bruce has been pissed of ever since and I can tell you it's no fun to be around a pissed of Bruce Wayne, I honestly don't know how Alfred does it every time again because we can flee but he can't. To be honest I don't know how he has managed not to go of the deep end living with all of us." he answered.  
Barbara smiled at this and said "I personally suspect Alfred to be an angel or something equally patient and good.".  
Tim full out laughed at this "Yeah I think you might be right.".

Before they knew it it was 8 PM so Dick's shift at the BPD was over and he was back in the Clock Tower where he found Tim and Babs working on the computer. He had pizza with him because he knew that Babs had most likely worked the whole day without really eating anything after breakfast. He hadn't foreseen Tim's presence but there was enough pizza for the three of them. He called their names rather loudly and they both looked up surprised since they'd been so wrapped up in their work that they hadn't heard him enter. Then he held up the pizza and they both left the computer for what it was when they realized how hungry they actually were.  
They ate the pizza's together and talked a lot, it was a really pleasant meal and they quite enjoyed it. But afterwards it was time to go to the Manor so Tim and Dick got ready with Tim leaving after a few minutes while Dick went to Barbara to tell her he'd probably come back afterwards and planned on staying the night since he didn't have the work the next day. Then he gave her a quick kiss and left to catch up to Tim.

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Sorry it took so long before I posted this but I had some exams to study for. The next week I will probably not post anything either because I'm not going to be home but I do plan on writing so you can expect something afterwards.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the new chapter. Please R&R and I hope you enjoy reading it.

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Cass was at Steph's house to do homework. She had a paper for English that was due in 3 days and she hadn't done much for it yet. She really didn't like the subject and the fact that she was still learning English didn't help one bit. Luckily Steph shared that class with her and had offered to help her with the paper if Cass taught her a move Steph had seen Cass make the night before in return. That was the reason Cass was there now trying to write something but without Steph present to help it went really slow and she didn't know how long she could keep going if Steph didn't return. She had only been there for like a minute when Steph's mom called for her daughter to come downstairs for a moment, a moment that was now over an hour ago.

Steph was in the kitchen helping her mother prepare diner but what she wanted was to go upstairs to Cass who was waiting for her. She'd promised Cass help with that paper for English (which she still had to write herself) and instead she was here assisting her mother. "mom can't I go to my room to do my homework? Cass has been waiting for me to come back for like a million hours now."  
"Stephanie I asked you to come here because we have to talk and why didn't you tell me you had a friend over earlier? Could you go and ask her to come back later because this is important." her mother answered and Steph winced remembering that she indeed should have told her mother that Cass was there.  
"Can I go to her place after diner then?" she asked looking at her mother with a pleading look.  
"I don't see why not if her parents are okay with it.".  
Steph immediately raced out of the kitchen pecking her mother on the cheek and said "Thanks mom.".

Cass looked up when she heard someone in the hallway but relaxed again when she recognized Steph's footsteps. A moment later the door to the bedroom opened and said girl came in. Steph's stance told her something wasn't right so it didn't come as a surprise when Steph told her she should leave because her mother wanted some mother-daughter time. She looked really guilty and quickly continued "But I could come to your place later?".  
Cass shook her head and said "I'm going to Barbara for a case."  
"Oh. Okay then I'll see you tomorrow at school I guess." Steph then said with a disappointed look on her face.

Cass went to the Clock Tower which she found empty except for Barbara who was, as usual, working on the computer. Cass walked up to her from behind and tapped on her shoulder to alert Barbara of her presence. The older girl literally jumped, not having noticed that Cass had arrived.  
"Geez Cass next time make a sound. I'm not up for getting a heart attack!".  
Cass nodded and stored the info for the next time she came here before asking "Have you found something?".  
Barbara looked at the 16-year old and saw how nervous the normally collected Cass was at the thought of having family. She smiled and pointed towards a chair in which Cass sat down while Barbara opened the file containing the results.  
When Cass got to see them she didn't want Barbara to read them out loud, this she wanted to read by herself. After she was done she asked "So he _really_ is my brother?"  
"Was but yes if the sample is correct then he _was_ your brother. Dick and Bruce are going to take a new sample tonight so with a little luck we'll have confirmation by tomorrow. If you want you can stay here to be present when the results get in." Barbara answered.  
Cass nodded and said "I'd like that but do you have food?".  
This made Barbara laugh after which she told her that there was some pizza left in the kitchen.

When Tim and Dick arrived in the Cave they found Bruce working at the computer. Tim went to the training area to do his daily exercises while Dick went directly to Bruce but before he let the older man know he was there the chair turned around to face him and a stoic looking Bruce stood up.  
"Dick now that you're here we can start." he said and walked towards the stairs that lead to his study with Dick quickly following him.

When they reached the end of the staircase Bruce opened the secret entrance and they walked into the study where Alfred was waiting for them with a very grave face. It was clear to his charges that he didn't like what they were about to do but he didn't say anything because he saw the necessity of the task. He lead them to the garden and handed them shovels before heading back inside while Dick and Bruce went on towards the Wayne Family Graveyard. Dick had always thought that it was creepy to have dead people in your backyard but now he was actually thankful for it, he really didn't want to do this in a real graveyard.  
Once they entered the holy ground they were both silent for a minute as if they were asking permission from the dead for the horrid action they were forced to take. Then they looked at each other before starting to dig in front of one specific headstone that read:  
Jason Peter Todd-Wayne  
Son – Brother – Friend  
1995-2008  
A headstone they both tried to avoid looking at.

The last light of the sun had completely disappeared when Dick hit something solid which turned out to be the coffin and it didn't take them long to uncover the rest of it and get it out of the pit they had dug. But then came the hardest task: they had to open it to take the sample. With a heavy heart Bruce picked up a crowbar to break the lock and shuddered when he thought about the fact that a crowbar just like the one in his hands had been used to torture his son not even three years before. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Dick said "Bruce look at this." while clearing a spot on the lid of the dirt that was still covering it.  
Bruce looked and saw a hole in the lid. Now he _really_ wanted to get that coffin open! He took the crowbar with both hands again and broke the lock before opening the lid.  
He didn't know what he had been expecting but it was still a very unpleasant surprise to see that there was NO BODY INSIDE!  
What they noticed upon closer examination were the scratches on the inside of the lid surrounded by the teared fabric that had once covered the wood. They looked at each other not knowing what to say for a moment. Dick was the first to find his tongue back and started rattling "Shit he was alive? Bruce how could that happen? He couldn't have been buried alive,could he? Shit my little brother was alive in there, he was buried alive!".  
Bruce then interrupted him saying "No he was dead. If there had been even a small chance that he could have been alive I would have done anything to keep him that way but he was already dead the moment I found him in Sarajevo."  
"So basically what you are saying is that he must have come back to life when he was already buried but that's impossible, isn't it?" Dick said looking really pale now before burying his head in his hands. The only reply he got was a grunt.  
When he looked back up after calming down a little he saw Bruce examining the coffin and taking a sample from the edge of the hole in the lid and coming towards him to hand him the sample.  
"Okay we have what we came for. We'll carry the coffin to the Cave for further testing and you can go to Barbara to deliver the sample." Bruce said before taking a shovel and starting to fill the pit they dug.  
Dick moved to help him and afterwards they carried the coffin to the Cave. Dick was really glad they didn't see Alfred on the way there because he wanted to spare the elder man this sight.  
After getting it to the Cave Dick looked at the sample and saw it was the blood that must have been in the scratches on the lid. He shuddered at the thought of having to to crawl out of your own grave before putting the sample away and leaving for the Clock Tower.

When Dick had left Bruce went to work on the coffin. He knew it had been opened from the inside because he had installed sensors to alert him in case someone tried to open it from the outside and the only time they had gone off had been tonight when he himself opened it.  
He scraped some more blood from the lid and made the computer scan it for strange elements before he started collecting anything that could help him find out how long ago the hole had been made.

Tim saw what Bruce was doing from the training area but he didn't want to ask his mentor what was going on because the man was clearly emotionally distressed so he left for the Tower thinking that Barbara would probably be able to tell him everything he needed to know.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm really sorry it took me so ling to post a new chapter but school started again so I don't have as much time as I did during August anymore. But still let me know if you like it (hope you do) so please everyone R&R.

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When Dick entered the Clock Tower the first thing he saw was a sleeping Cass on the couch, he thought it was a bit cold so he put a blanket to cover her before moving on to the Operating Room where he suspected Babs to be. And indeed there she was, still working on something he didn't have knowledge about but nonetheless he took a chair from across the room and sat down next to her before putting the samples Bruce and he had recovered right in front of her.  
It was only then that she noticed his presence but to her credit she didn't startle. Instead she looked at him to thank him for the samples but when she saw how indescribably sad and worried he looked. It wasn't a look she was used to from him so she took his hand and asked what was wrong.  
He looked straight at her but she didn't think he really saw her and she could see tears forming in his eyes and not even a second later he was hugging her and she could feel him shaking.  
After a few minutes the shaking got a bit less and he started talking with a voice that was full of emotions.  
"It was empty Babs, his coffin was empty! And as if that was not enough a hole had been made from the inside out and the lid was filled with scratches. He was alive in there and he dug himself out! Can you imagine what that must have done to him?" By now Dick was almost screaming, "I don't know why he didn't come to us but he could be out there! He could be alive, Babs! We have to find him, he's my little brother and I failed him before but not again, never again!" after that he was silent but Barbara could hear him breathing hard so she calculated her response as not to upset him even more.  
"Dick you have to calm down but I promise you that if Jason is alive we will find him! I swear that I will do everything I can to find him and I'm sure the others will do the same. Hell, I'm certain Bruce is already looking for him."  
That seemed to calm him down a bit as she could hear his breaths even out and he even released her from his hug before giving her a small smile.  
She was glad for that and said "You can stay here if you want. Then you'll be close when anyone finds anything. I'll start working on the sample immediately and you and Cass will be the first to know the results.".  
He nodded his thanks and left the room after giving her a quick peck on the cheek which made her blush. She started on the blood, trying to get some of it in a petri-dish so she could analyze it. When she was done with that an alarm went off telling her someone authorized to had entered the Tower.

When Tim entered the Tower he went straight for the Control Room and Barbara because she was fairly likely to know what was going on.  
After he found her she told him that "Yes, I do know what is happening but you have to ask Dick if he wants to tell you or if I should. He should be in the kitchen.". Then she resumed her work and he knew he was 'dismissed' so he went to find Dick.  
Dick was indeed in the kitchen but when he looked at Tim the latter was taken aback because there was a redness to Dick's eyes that indicated he had cried recently. Tim had almost never known his big brother figure to cry so he was sure that whatever was going on must be bad. Tim knew he was going to hurt Dick with asking but he needed to know.  
"I saw Bruce and you come back and something seemed wrong and I wanted to know what was going on and Barbara said I had to ask if you wanted to tell me or if she should do it."  
Dick looked up at him with a sad smile and eyes that seemed to look right through Tim for a moment before he spoke up and said "I'll tell you what's going on, you go back to Babs now and I'll join you in a minute after waking up Cass because this concerns her too.".

Tim did what Dick had said and found Barbara isolating DNA in the blood and initiating the DNA-replication process necessary to identify certain sequences in the DNA. He went to sit next to her and watched her work until Cass and Dick came in.

Three pairs of eyes followed Dick when he moved to the computer and opened a file on it. After that he turned around to face the three of them. Barbara gave him an encouraging smile and that seemed to be enough as he started his 'tale'.  
"You knew we were going to take a DNA-sample from Jason Todd tonight but when we opened his coffin it was empty and with a hole in the lid. Our theory right now is that he came back to life in there or something similar."  
"So what you are saying is that Jason could be alive?" Tim asked with wide eyes, an expression that Cass perfectly mirrored.  
"Yes we think so but right now we don't know where he is or even anything specific but all of us are doing everything we can to find him and bring him home if it is even remotely possible. And Tim shouldn't you be going home before your father checks your room and finds it empty." Dick ended with a smiled that was almost sly.  
Tim looked at him with a face that said 'Shit! Forgot about that.' before moving to leave. He was almost out the window when he heard Dick tell Cass that she should try to sleep because there wasn't anything she could do right now to help.

Cass was trying to sleep. She was in her bed in her own room in the Tower, Barbara had given it to her shortly after Cass had admitted to the redheaded woman that she didn't have anywhere to go outside the Clock Tower. Now she had the apartment Bruce had given her but she still had the room. Sleep wouldn't come so now she was just pacing and thinking about everything that had happened during the past day (with day as a relative term). How was she even supposed to sleep after everything they'd heard about Jason and she was sure none of the others would sleep well either. But at the same time she also knew that Dick had been right and that there wasn't anything they could do before Bruce and Barbara were done with recovering all the evidence they could find. That wasn't something she could help with and she still had school in the morning ánd the stupid paper due in only a few days so she definitely should try to sleep. So she went back to bed and hoped sleep would come eventually.

It was quiet in the Bat Cave, so quiet that one might think it empty but then the sound of something hitting the ground hard fills the Cave and echoes there for quite some time before a chair is turned and hasty footsteps from the computer area to the entrance stairs can be heard.  
Bruce tries to mount the stairs as quickly as possible but is forced to slow down after almost tripping.  
After what felt like an eternity he reached his study where began shouting "Alfred". The butler come in and looked a tad disturbed at the sight of his charge in costume in the house, it was something he was really strict about and only in case of emergency would Bruce enter the house in the guise of the Batman. But nonetheless he tried to keep his face and voice blanc when saying "Yes master Bruce?".  
"Do you know where the others are? I found something and they need to know it as soon as possible so I need them here." Bruce said in one breath.  
"I believe they are at mistress Barbara's house but I am quite certain that this can wait until the morning as you haven't seen a bed in over 3 days and even for the Batman that is too much." Alfred answered in a rather pointed voice.  
"No, I won't fail him again, Alfred. I can't fail him again! There is a chance that I might have found where he is and I won't let it slide so can you please call Dick to tell him to come over here right now and let him bring Cassandra." When he was done with his monologue Bruce retreated back to the Cave to do some more things until his family arrived.


	6. Chapter 6

Here's the new chapter. As always please review and follow if you like it (review if you don't is ok too). So enjoy!

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The DNA-duplication and the identifying of the markers were done so Barbara had put the results in the computer and was now waiting for the results of the test to come in. She was comparing Jason's DNA against the DNA of everyone he could be related to and all the comparisons were running simultaneously so it was only a matter of time before one was done. She just saw a banner appear on her screen, telling her one test was done when the telephone rang and a screen opened informing her it was from Wayne Manor. She said "Accept" out loud for the voice control and "Hello?" to the person on the other side of the line.

Alfred didn't have to wait long for someone to pick up the phone at the Clock Tower after dialling. This told him that there was at least one person there too who was working instead of sleeping and for a moment he thought about reprimanding the person who picked up when he heard Barbara's voice and immediately had to think back to the conversation with master Bruce earlier. There had been so much hope in his voice right then and there and hope was something that was too often absent in this house of sorrows and regrets. That same hope he could hear right now in mistress Barbara's voice and he didn't want this sliver of hope to go so he simply relayed the message from master Bruce.  
"Hello mistress Barbara, master Bruce asked for master Dick and mistress Cassandra. He said it was urgent and I believe them to reside at your house at this moment?"  
"Yes, they are both here and I'll send them immediately. Is there something else Alfred, something to tell them they should expect?"  
"No, at the moment I don't know what master Bruce is doing and he only told that he needed the two of them here as soon as possible."  
"Ok I'll make sure they get the message and they both should be there within half an hour."  
"Very well. Good night mistress Barbara."  
"Good night Alfred." And with that Barbara ended the call before leaving the room to look for Cass and Dick.

Dick was making his third cup of coffee for that night because he didn't want to go to sleep. Who knew what might happen if he did, he wanted to be awake when there were new developments so when he heard Barbara coming he almost tripped over his own chair and ten his feet in his haste to know what had happened.  
The first thing she said to him was "Dick sit!" then there was a pause before she talked again because she took a sip of his coffee before continuing "I'm going to get Cass and then I'll tell you everything I know and could you please make me some coffee too. I really need it right now.". Then she left and he went back to the kitchen counter to make her a mug of the bitter liquid too.  
When she came back in it was with an excited 16 year old right behind her. Barbara steered her chair to her spot around the table where her coffee stood waiting for her while Cass sat down in the chair next to her. Cass didn't say anything but the way she was almost vibrating on the spot told the two older heroes that they'd better hurry up because she wanted to move.  
Barbara started "I got a call from Alfred in which he asked me to tell you that Bruce needs you at the Manor so if I were you I'd try and get there as soon as possible and I'm going to go back to my computer because the tests with the new samples should be done about now. I'll make sure to send the results to the Manor so you should hear about it when you get there."  
Dick and Cass were almost immediately gone to go change and who could blame them, Bruce Wayne nor Batman were someone to keep waiting. Barbara just heard Dick call out "See you later Babs." before the both of them had left through the window less than a minute later.

When Cass and Dick reached the Cave they found Bruce in the lower area prepping the plane then they heard the computer ping telling them there was an incoming call. Dick ran to the computer to get it and after pressing the accept button Barbara appeared on the screen. She said "Hey Dick, I assume Bruce is down there somewhere too." when they heard a grunt and Bruce appeared right behind Dick. Then he asked "What did you find?".  
"The tests with the new sample are done and I can give you the results if you want." Barbara answered as Cass moved closer as not a miss a word of what was being said. She simply said "Please." Which seemed to be good enough for Barbara as she started talking again. "The tests showed that Jason isn't related to any of his supposed parents but he does share DNA with both Cass and David Cain. And not only that, he shares some DNA-sequences with Cass that Cain doesn't possess which indicates that they share not only their father but that they have the same mother as well. But of that last part I can't be too certain since their dates of birth are too close to each other but that could be explained by a wrong date. We only know Cass's birthday by what Cain told us and how reliable is he and since none of the people who raised Jason were his actual parents it is possible that they simply didn't know his birthday."  
It was quiet for a moment in the Cave as no one seemed to know what to say to something like that but then Alfred speaks up which makes everyone there jump as they hadn't noticed him entering the Cave. "Could any of you lot use some tea after that? I just brew a fresh pot." He said while placing said pot of tea and three cups on the table.  
Dick then turned to Alfred with a grateful smile on his face and said "Yes, tea would be a good idea right now. Thanks Alfred."  
Cass also moved towards Alfred before saying "I'd like some too, please." in her quiet voice.  
But before Alfred could hand them a cup Bruce rose from his chair and said "Not now, the two of you need to see what I discovered so we can leave. The jet is ready for immediate departure." then he turned back to the screen from where Barbara was following the situation. "Barbara, you'll coordinate things here until we are back."  
"Uh sure?" She answered in an uncertain voice but Bruce paid no mind to it.  
"Now look." Bruce continued while he opened a report he made on his investigation of the coffin. "I initially discovered an unknown substance in the blood recovered from the coffin but while the exact molecular structure as unknown it bore a distinct similarity to the primary active element of the Lazarus Pits. This suggests the involvement of Ra's Al Guhl so now we are going to pay him a visit to find out what he knows." After that Bruce seemed to think he had explained enough as he pulled his cowl on and walked in the direction of the jet.  
The others didn't seem to agree with him and Barbara could see that Dick wanted to say something but kept it to himself as they all knew what Bruce's answer would be to each and every question now asked. So he and Cass followed Bruce to the jet after saying a quick goodbye to both Alfred and Barbara.

They were only just done with buckling up when Bruce opened the doors to the landing- and departure area for the planes and started the jet. A moment later they were on their way to the Middle East to find Ra's Al Guhl.

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As always I'll update as soon as possible.


	7. Chapter 7

After chapter 6 related had more than one thousand views so I wanted to thank everyone for reading and following and reviewing and so on. As always please review and/or follow if you like or don't like it. And enjoy.

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When the plane had crossed the Atlantic Dick asked Bruce "Do you know at which of his bases Ra's is?"  
"No."  
"Then how do you intend to find him?"  
"I don't"  
Now Dick looked up with puzzled face and exclaimed "What?"  
"He'll come to us." A still stoic Bruce answered.  
"Okay?" Dick said "So we're just going to a base of his to lure him out?".  
"Not just a base but yes that's the basic idea." Bruce answered after which he was quiet again and Dick sensed he wouldn't be talking again so he went to the back of the plane to ask Cass if she wanted to play a card game.

About half an hour later they were interrupted in their game as the plane set in the descent. They put their masks back on and went to the front to join Bruce. There they buckled up for the actual landing on a deserted road used as a landing strip by Ra's Al Guhl. They could see the base it lead to out of the window although maybe base wasn't the right word for it since it was more of a palace than a temporal headquarters but then again this was Ra's Al Guhl and what was over the top for everyone else was kind of normal for him.  
When they exited the plane they saw the palace right in front of them and they followed Bruce who strode directly to the front gate as if he owned the place but to Dicks surprise the gates actually opened when they closed in on them. This screamed trap to Dick but he still followed Bruce as before even though his pace was now quicker as to be closer to his mentor if an attack came and he saw Cass do the same. But the expected attack didn't come, they simply entered a richly decorated marble hall with a staircase on each side which ended in a balcony where right then a figure came out of the shadows.  
"Hello beloved. It has been a long time since I last saw you, what brings you here?"  
"Hello Talia, we are here for your father hoping he could give us information about his Lazarus Pits." Bruce answered in a gruff voice.  
"And why is that? If I may ask that is." Talia asked with a sly smile on her face.  
"When looking through evidence of a missing person's case we found something very similar to the active element of the Pit." Bruce answered although it was clearly reluctantly.  
Now she looked up with a surprised face before saying "So you _are_ looking for him. You know I was almost certain you wouldn't come because it took you so long."  
Now it was Bruce's to be surprised as he looked stunned "He is with you?".  
"He isn't here if that is what you are asking but yes I do know where he is." Talia said with a thoughtful face.  
By then Dick couldn't hold himself back anymore and spoke up "Can you please take us to him?"  
Talia looked at him annoyed "Good day to you too Nightwing and no I can't take you to him. I am not here for you but to get something for my father but I can send someone with you." Then she called "Damian!".  
A figure appeared behind her but stayed hidden in the shadows and said "Yes mother." in a high pitched voice.  
Then he emerged from the shadows and all Bats took a collective breath out of surprise. This was a child of max 8 to 9 years old and had he just called Talia mother?  
Talia started talking again but now it was to the boy "You will escort our guests to Tibet. Will you be able to complete this task satisfactory?"  
"Yes mother, I will not disappoint you."  
"Very well. You know where to find me when you are done."  
"Yes mother." Then the boy (Damian?) jumped down from the balcony and Bruce had to refrain Dick from trying to catch him because he was certain the boy didn't need the help nor would he probably appreciate it.  
Damian landed in an almost soundless crouch and rose immediately, confirming Bruce's thought. He was wearing a cloak with hood which hid his face. Bruce then looked back up at the balcony where Talia had been only moments ago but that was now vacant, she had disappeared just as he had suspected she would.  
Then Damian spoke "I suppose you are here by a plane?"  
"Yes we are." Bruce answered mildly curious of where the child was going.  
"Then I suggest you lead me to it if you want to get to our destination any time soon." Damian responded in an almost exasperated tone.  
Then Cass, who had been silent so far, started to move in the direction of the gates and said "He is right.".  
Damian made a 'tt' sound as if what he said shouldn't be questioned and followed Cass.  
Both of the remaining men looked at each other for a moment at a loss of words before following their younger companions to the plane.

When the plane was back in the air and on its way to the Himalaya Dick started asking Damian all kinds of questions but during his rant Damian simply held up his hand, effectively silencing Dick before saying "My name is Damian Al Guhl and I am the Demon's heir. That is all you need to know about me for now." Then he turned away from Dick to look out of the window before joining Bruce in the front of the plane to give him exact instructions of how to fly.

In the back of the plane Cass came to stand beside Dick and asked "You really think he is Talia's son?"  
"Looking at his behaviour yeah I'd say he is.  
She nodded and sat back down before gesturing to Dick to come sit across her and taking out the cards to continue their game to kill the time until they'd arrive in Tibet.

In the front Damian was looking out of the cockpit's windows to see when he had to give Batman more instructions but for now there wasn't anything he could do but watch. Batman looked at him but Damian knew he couldn't see past his hood so he didn't think too much of it but then Batman did something Damian hadn't expected: he asked a question.  
"Do you know my son?"  
Damian made his 'tt' sound before saying "Yes I know Todd, he's kind of hard not to notice."  
"How long have you known him?"  
"Well that is a bit of a hard question to answer to be honest."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well I have first seen him shortly after he arrived at grandfathers house almost two years ago and mother always encouraged me to go to him so I have seen him almost daily for over a year but the first real conversation we had was only a week ago."  
"How is that?" Damian noticed that Batman was now completely concentrated on him and if was honest to himself that was kind of scary and trilling at the same time.  
"I don't know if I am supposed to tell you this but when mother found Todd he had severe brain damage and wasn't able to do anything on his own but fulfil his own basic needs and act on muscle memory."  
Now Batman looked at him with an even more intense look. "What changed?"  
"Uh... Mother put him in grandfather's Lazarus Pit." Damian answered very fast paced as he wasn't certain if this was something Batman would like.  
"She did what! Is she crazy? Well of course she's crazy but still!" Yes he didn't like it.  
"He was fine afterwards." Damian told Batman in the all-knowing tone he used most of the time.  
"And your definition of fine is?"  
Damian shrugged "He was able to talk afterwards."  
"Okay that's good." Bruce said hesitantly.  
"Of course he wanted to kill the clown and he was thinking about killing you but that is not out of the ordinary for someone who has been submerged in the Pit." Damian continued.  
"He wanted to do what!?" Damian saw that Batman looked like he was ready to pounce something.  
"That is why mother send him to Tibet, it should have helped him to suppress the Pit's influence on his mind if his will is strong enough and personally think it is so he should be fine."  
"It has been less than a week and he should be fine?"  
"Two days actually, mother was only back this morning and yes it should be enough."  
Bruce looked at Damian and at seeing how calm the kid was concluded that he was speaking the truth but how could that be? And how would Jason be? He had hoped to find his son alive and well, not like this but for now the only thing he could do was pray that Damian was right and that Jason would be alright.


	8. Chapter 8

Here's the new chapter. I'm terribly sorry it took so long but this was for me the hardest chapter to write yet. Anyway hope you like it and please review and/or follow. Enjoy!

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Damian had given Batman the order to land when he saw the landing site closest to their destination. They still had a day's walking to do but for now he was leading Batman, Nightwing and the girl he assumed was Batgirl to his grandfather's base so they could all get clothes more suited for the climate.  
Once inside the base he issued some guards to lead his 'guests' to a storage room where they could find everything he needed while he went to his quarters to pack what he would need.  
After that he too went to the storage room to get his companions and then leave the compound. During said walk he thought about them. He approved of Batman, the girl was all right too but Nightwing was surely the biggest fool he'd ever seen. He thought back to his last trip to Tibet the week before and how Todd had told him about them. In Todd's stories Nightwing had always seemed to be a big hero and it had been obvious Todd looked up to him even if he hated him at the same time. Once he'd even called Nightwing his brother but that had been when after a long day and he hadn't even been able to finish his sentence before falling asleep. Damian didn't want to admit it and would never say it out loud but he had been jealous of Nightwing because that was the first time he had heard Todd call someone but Damian his brother and he didn't like the thought of sharing that position. He liked the thought of being as a brother to such a strong and capable fighter as Todd. But now he'd met Nightwing Damian found it hard to believe that this idiot was the Nightwing out of Todd's stories.  
Damian was pulled out of his thoughts when one of the guards greeted him: He stood at the door of the storage room. Damian entered and immediately had to do his best not to grimace. Nightwing came running towards him grinning like the idiot he was with something in his arms. Damian heard Batman and Batgirl sigh so it couldn't be good. When he was close enough (it was a big room) 'Nightmare' almost screamed "Was this yours when you were smaller, Dames?" while holding up a thermic suit for a four or five year old.  
Damian held his face carefully blank when answering "No, my grandfather just likes having child-sized clothes around." But on the inside he was cursing the man for not just taking what he needed.  
"Oh, I actually thought it would have been yours." Nightwing then said with a disappointed face.  
Now Damian couldn't hold himself anymore "Of course it's mine you idiot, it's not like anyone but us and the guards come here."  
Then he heard Batgirl speak up "He found it and thought it was funny." But it was said in a tone that made it very clear she didn't think the same thing.  
"But BG, it really is funny." Nightwing said pouting like a child but she obviously didn't fall for it and looked at him so unimpressed it even showed through the full face mask.  
It was clear that Batman thought that enough was enough when he kind of appeared in the middle of the room and said in a calm but resonating voice "That's enough. We are ready so let's go. Damian you lead the way." It was such a commanding voice that all of them did exactly as he said and a minute later they were out of the base and on their way on a small path leading towards the mountain.

"Are we there yet" came the question once again and Damian had to resist hitting him. What was this? The 10000st time he asked?  
"No, once again we've only been walking for five hours so we aren't there yet. We still have to walk another seven hours like I told you the last several times you asked. You do know you sound like a toddler right? They ask that same question all the time too."  
Then they heard giggling and both looked around to see Batgirl just as she said "He's right, you do." Before she walked past the both of them.  
Damian and Nightwing looked at each other and clearly wanted to react when Batman walked past them and grunted "Keep up."  
"Yes sir" was the reply both of them gave before hurrying up to Batgirl who was now in front of their small procession.

"We're here."  
"We're here? Damian, there's nothing here!" Dick piped up and it looked like he wanted to say more but the look Damian gave him was enough to silence him because of the sheer hate in it. Dick didn't know where this came from but he felt it was safer to avoid these looks so silent it was.  
"Of course there's nothing to see, did you think this was just a place where everyone could barge in. I still don't understand why mother even allowed you to come." Then Damian looked at Batman and Batgirl and said "I need you to wait here while I look for the exact location of the entrance." They both nodded and he then ignored them in favour of concentrating on the energy that had already lead them here to find where it all came together. It was a technique he had learned from his mother when they had come here before.  
About a minute later Damian opened his eyes and pointed towards a rock in the side of the mountain some 50 feet up. "That's the entrance" and started climbing. It didn't look like an entrance but all of them knew better than to think any door had to look like a door so they too started climbing. It was straight up and even with the professional mountain climb gear they had it was far from an easy climb. Damian moved the fasted and combined with his head start that was enough for him to be the first to reach the rock but instead of pushing it aside or anything the others had expected him to do he simply went through it.

Damian blinked when going through the rock and when his eyes where open again he was standing in the middle of a plaza, next to a fountain. Guards dressed like monks came running towards him but when they recognised him as the grandson of the demon's head.  
"I am here for my brother."  
"Right now there is a ceremony that marks the end of his training here, you can go watch and afterwards he'll be free to speak with you." One of the guards answered.  
"Fine, where is this ceremony taking place?"  
The guard pointed in the direction of one of the stairs that started at the edges of the plaza and said "Just follow those stairs and you'll see it soon enough."  
"Okay. Now in about a minute three other persons will enter too, they are with me so if you could send them after me I would be grateful."  
The guards nodded and Damian headed for the stairs. He went up as fast as he could and when he was there he saw how Todd entered a platform that obviously served as a stage and how all the monks bowed for him. Then it was clearly time for Todd to make some kind of speech but all he said was "Um… Thanks." Before following the old lady Damian knew was the leader of the monks named Ducra towards some kind of garden. It was clear neither of them had seen Damian so he ran after them. When he saw them again he heard Todd say something to his teacher and hit a stone pillar but Damian couldn't understand what Todd said because of the distance. Ducra said something back which made Todd smile a little but by then Damian was within hearing distance and he called "Todd!" at which both Ducra and Todd looked up and Todd spread his arms just in time to catch Damian who slammed into him.  
Jason laughed and said "I take it you missed me?"  
"Tt, in your dreams Todd." Damian huffed and moved out of the way of Jason's arm that was on its way to ruffle the younger boy's hair which ended their hug.  
"Well then you have a special way of greeting people." Jason said still laughing before he asked "You here with a reason little bro?"  
"Mother send me. I had to lead the way for your so called family." He said the last part in a tone that made it so clear how he thought about the matter that it would have made Jason laugh if what Damian had said had been anything else. Now Jason didn't know how to feel. Should he be glad that they had come for him or mad that they had come only now. To be honest he was really confused about what he should do now.  
"Hello? You in there Todd? Mother wouldn't be pleased if you would go back to your state from before the pit."  
Jason shook his head to clear his thoughts a bit, "Who did you say you brought here?" He asked to make sure he had heard Damian right.  
"As I said your 'family', meaning Batman, Batgirl and Nightwing." He said the last word in such a condescending tone that this time Jason really did laugh.  
"I take it you don't like Nightwing." He more said than asked.  
"Tt, he's an idiot." Which made Jason laugh again.  
"Yeah, I guess he is." Then he got serious and asked, more to himself than anyone else "What are they doing here?"  
"There here for you of course. Did you become an idiot too or is this only fleeting?" Damian said and even if his face didn't show any emotion it was clear to Jason that he was joking, Damian always looked at him differently when he wanted to actually hurt him.  
"Yeah well, I just don't understand why they'd come now." Then the look on his face became angrier, "It's not like they cared about me before."  
"Tt, you…" but before Damian could continue they heard another voice.  
"Damian, where are you?" They heard from behind them. Jason turned around and saw Dick at the same moment Dick saw him. "Jay!" was all Dick said before he had Jason in a tight hug.  
Jason took a moment to process everything before he semi-tried to push Dick away. "Ugh. You really needed to do that? Get off of me." He said and when Dick just ignored it he really pushed him away using enough force that Dick had to let him go but not enough to hurt him. Jason sighed, "Don't you ever listen to what people say?" then he sighed again "Never mind, over course you don't." Then he looked at Dick expectantly and when the latter gave him a questioning look he said. "Well, what are you doing here?"  
Now Dick looked really confused "We're here for you of course. What other reason would we have for coming here?" and before he could say anything else another voice coming from behind Jason cut him off.  
"He's right, we are."

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One last thing: for who's interested I started another story so if you'd let me know what you think I'd really like that.


	9. Chapter 9

Here's the new Chapter, hope you like it. I want to thank everyone who reviewed for it. and as always if you like it please review and/or follow. Enjoy!

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"He's right, we are"  
-B!- Jason didn't know what to do, should he move and get away from all of them or should he face his 'father' and 'brother'. He didn't know and it seemed Bruce was using that fact to come closer. Jason could hear him close in on their little group. He was in the middle of that, with Bruce at his back, Dick in front of him and Damian next to him. Damian who hadn't said anything since the others had appeared Jason realized now. And where was Babs, Damian had said that she was here too, hadn't he? But then he felt Bruce coming even closer and he knew that if he wanted to do something he had to do it now. Within the next second he freed himself from Dick's grasp (who was still holding on to him by his arms) and turned around to face his supposed-to-be-father figure.  
The look in Jason's eyes made Bruce almost back away. Bruce had expected to see anger and while it was certainly there the boy's eyes showed so much more emotions than just anger. What surprised him the most was all the pain and sorrow he saw in those blue-green eyes. That first moment Jason looked so young it made Bruce think of the first time he'd ever seen him as an almost ten years old child but then his eyes hardened and his whole face with it. Now he didn't look like that little boy anymore, instead Bruce was looking at the face of a man who had long since seen his share of evil in the world. It was something Bruce knew to be true, he had always known Jason was so much older than he looked. The boy had already lived through so much before he'd even reached the age of ten and what had Bruce done this damaged child when he had had the chance to help him? He'd just thrown him back into all the craziness and violence of this cruel world without even once stopping to think if it was the right thing to do. No, he had been missing Dick so much that when he found this child he used it to restore the balance in his life by making Jason into a second Dick. It had been so selfish to think that being Robin would fix the boy when it had only been himself he had been helping. That was the thing, wasn't it? He had never thought about it that way before but that didn't make it any less true. He had tried to turn him into Dick and by doing that he had betrayed the trust of the little boy who had grown up to be the young man currently standing in front of him. And then Bruce did something he barely ever did: he acted purely on emotion. He took a step forward and before the both of them knew what had happened Bruce had Jason enveloped in a hug and was muttering about how he was sorry over and over again.  
"You're sorry? Why would you be sorry for something that was my fault? If anyone it should be me who's sorry." Jason said after taking in everything that had just happened. He had never seen Bruce this way and certainly not while in uniform. To say he was confused didn't nearly cover it right then. He was also still figuring out if he should hug back or not but that choice was taken from him when Bruce loosened his grip on him a little to look him in the eye before saying "What do you have to be sorry for Jason? I'm the one who brought you into this life and I'm the one who wasn't there for you when you needed me. I was too late to save you and after that it took me this long to find out you were alive and to figure out where you were. So yes, I think I have more than enough reasons to be sorry."  
Jason was rendered speechless, this wasn't what he had expected to happen when he would see them and especially Bruce again. Sure, he'd known Dick would be kind of like this but then again Dick was sort of an idiot. But Bruce? Jason had never seen him this emotional and it kinda scared him. He had wanted to be mad, hell he'd been mad plenty since the pit but now all the rage that had been the primary thing that kept him going wasn't directed anywhere anymore. Until now Bruce had been the focus of his rage, mainly because he didn't think Bruce had ever cared for him or seen him as more than a replaceable soldier, which had been confirmed in his eyes when he learned of the existence of a third Robin. But that thought pattern was hard to maintain after seeing Bruce acting the way he was right now.  
Dick sensed that Jason didn't know what to do next and because Cass had joined them by then he had the luminous idea to introduce her to Jason. So he said "Hey Jay. There's someone here who'd like to meet you." and pointed towards Cass.  
Upon hearing his name Jason turned towards them and the following moment Dick could see first confusion, then surprise and then … was that anger in his expression?  
"Who the fuck's that?" Jason burst out "And where's Babs?"  
Dick saw something he recognized as fear in his brother's eyes and was quick to counter "No, no, it's not like that. Babs is fine, she's running operations back in Gotham."  
He saw Jason look at him suspicious before asking "So she's okay?" with narrowed eyes.  
Now Dick felt the need to be very cautious when answering to that "Yeah sure, she's fine."  
"You sure, 'cause you don't seem too certain about that yourself." Jason replied, clearly still not entirely convinced.  
Dick sighed and raked his hand through his hair before saying "Some things changed while you were away Jay, and I know Babs wont appreciate me telling you so you'll have to ask her yourself. All you need to know until then is that Babs is no longer Batgirl and that she chose Cass to carry on the name."  
The suspicion in Jason's eyes was mostly replaced by surprise now "She _asked_ this kid to be Batgirl?"  
"Uhm Jason, this 'kid' is the same age you are, probably even a bit older."  
Now Jason looked stumped "What! But she's so small!"  
"Yeah she is but that doesn't mean she has to be young, now does it?"  
Now it was Jason's turn to rake his hand through his hair before saying "No, I guess you're right." Then he looked at Cass again "Sorry for that. So I'm Jason, nice to meet you." He said with an apologetic smile while holding out his hand for her to shake but Cass didn't take the hand and instead flew into his arms to hug him. Jason's eyes went big before he said "What is it with you people and hugging today? I mean come on, does everyone here crave physical contact that much that you all have to hug me?" But when he saw how it made everyone uncomfortable, even Damian seemed uneasy and he'd never seen the kid looking anything but confident, he said "Hey people that was a joke, okay! Jeez, don't you even know what those are anymore." Then he asked the girl that was still smothering him "So who are you exactly and is there a reason you had to hug me?"  
When she didn't answer it was Dick who spoke instead "Her name is Cassandra and we recently found out she's your sister."  
"The fuck? Since when do I have a sister?" Now Jason was shocked. This was absolutely not what he had expected to hear.  
Once again Dick was the one to try and explain everything. "Remember how you tried to find your real mother and found Haywood."  
Jason nodded, of course he remembered, that bitch was the reason he'd died so no way he'd forget about that. He wanted to say something but Dick continued.  
"Well turns out she was an even bigger bitch than we all thought she was because she wasn't even your real mother. And before you say something yes we're sure. We tested you're DNA against hers and it wasn't a match. Instead we found out that you have the same mother as Cass here. And that's not all, we also found out that Willis wasn't your father, though were not sure if he knew that."  
Now Jason snorted "Do you think that fucking bastard would have let me live in his house if he thought I wasn't his. I can tell you with certainty that if what you are saying is true he surely didn't know about it. But if they weren't my parents then who are? And why did they leave me in Crime Alley?"  
"Well we don't know who your mother is or was but we do know the identity of your father because he raised for the first couple of years and we've got is DNA. Your father is…"  
But then Bruce interrupted "There's no need for Ra's and his league to know all this so we'll come back to that later."  
Jason wondered for a moment what Bruce meant with that before his eyes fell on Damian and he understood what was bothering Bruce. Then he nodded and decided he had to think about everything that just happened so he said "Can you guys wait here while I pack my stuff. I just completed my training here so they'll expect me to be gone as soon as possible." Then he turned around and began walking in the direction of the living quarters when Cass grabbed his hands and began to walk with him. He mentally shrugged and let her.


	10. Chapter 10

Here's the new chapter. As always please review and/or follow if you like it. And thank you to anyone who already did that. Enjoy!

Jason led Cass into the room that had been his for… he didn't actually know how long he'd been here. He did know time proceeded different in the dimension they were in. That while to him his stay here had seemed like a really long time, that probably only a few days had passed back on earth.  
He closed the door behind him and saw how Cass sat down on the bed and took off her mask. Then Jason frowned and said "But you're Asian. How can we be brother and sister when you are Asian and I am Caucasian?"  
But Cass smiled and said "We're both."  
"Wait, you mean that I'm half Asian? How come I don't look like it?"  
She smiled again and said "You do."  
Now he frowned even deeper "What do you mean? What's Asian about how I look?  
She studied him for a moment before replying "Your eyes, hair and …" she touched her cheekbones as to show him like she didn't know the word for it.  
This made Jason think about how little she had said since they had met and asked – or more stated - "You don't speak English very well, do you."  
He was surprised when she didn't even look offended and simply shrugged "Am learning."  
He nodded and asked "Is there a language we could speak in that would be easier for you?"  
She looked surprised at him but answered "No, only English."  
He seemed to think on that a bit before he asked "How come? Didn't anyone teach you how to speak or something when you were little?"  
She shrugged and said "Cain wanted me to fight, not to speak."  
"Okay, that's just wrong and what!? Did you just say **Cain** is our father? Please tell me I heard you wrong or something?  
She shook her head and pulled a face before saying "Cain is our father."  
His face showed more than a bit surprise from that "Okay, shit! Didn't see that coming. So you are that girl I heard about, the girl he raised to become the perfect assassin."  
She nodded.  
"Shit!" He raked a hand through his hair before looking at her again "I'm sorry."  
Now it was her turn to look surprised and her eyes seemed to ask 'why?'.  
"Because you had to live through that. I'm not saying my life was a fairy-tale but I guess it was better than growing up with him for a father. At least I had my mother who loved me." Then he sighed "When she wasn't high that is."  
Cass gave him a trying but not very convincing smile. "I survived."  
Which was clearly not the right thing to say if determined by what Jason's reaction to that was. The half-smile he'd been sporting and soft look in his eyes disappeared and he turned away from her and towards the window. "Yes you did." Came the pained reply.  
Cass gasped when she realised what she had just said. She looked at Jason's back and tried to think of what she should do now. She wanted to go over to him and hug him but wasn't sure if Jason would appreciate the gesture right now.  
Jason logically knew that she hadn't meant it like that but not everything about how he thought was logic. The exact opposite actually, he'd always been a person driven by his emotions even when he didn't show it. When he'd lived on the street it had been dangerous to show your emotions so he'd learned to channel his emotions into anger which had been much more useful to survive. But after that his anger had made him unpredictable and even violent on some occasions. He'd never been very good at controlling his emotions and now that had become particularly dangerous because of the pit. Yes, the pit had restored him physically but it was more of a curse for his mental health. It had filled him with pure, hot rage and while Ducra had taught him how to more or less control it, it was still hard and even harder when he was emotional. He'd felt the pit trying to take over when Bruce spoke to him and now again. But he _had_ to control it, he couldn't just scare this girl, his sister!, with an overly violent reaction because she had said something without thinking too much before doing so. The response she'd given was probably the one she always gave when it came to her (their!) father.  
He could feel the rage retreat to the back of his mind after analysing the whole situation, it was one of the easiest ways to hold on to himself when he felt the pit trying to take control. When he deemed himself safe to be around again he looked back at Cass and saw that she was still sitting on the bed looking at him apologetic and a bit indecisive. He gave her a smile and said "Cass, it's fine, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."  
Unconvinced she looked at him until he came closer and put his hand on her forearm. "Cass, I'm serious, it's okay."  
She looked him in the eye, then shook her head and said "Not okay, your eyes are different."  
He was surprised that she'd even noticed it. It wasn't like his eyes could still look poisonous green like they'd surely been a minute ago. By now only a hint of green should remain and barely anyone ever noticed that with his normally already blue-green eyes. But apparently Cass did. "Yeah, I know. Shouldn't take too long now before they're normal again." He said as if it was completely normal that eyes changed colour.  
It was clear that Cass didn't completely understand what was going on but still she nodded and seemed to accept his explanation.  
He'd had enough of all the questions (both his and Cass's) for now so he went to get his stuff from everywhere in the room. There were books everywhere so he started with collecting these to bring them back to the library. With Cass's help it didn't take long and when they were done he picked up a stack of books and asked her "You want to bring them back to the library with me?"  
She took the rest of the books and nodded before following him out of the door. They walked together in comfortable silence to the library and once there they spent quite some time putting all the books back in their respective spots.  
While doing that Cass had become intrigued by the sheer amount of books that had been in Jason's room so she asked "Did you read them all?"  
Jason looked up from the books he'd been sorting out. "You mean in this library? No, of course not but a decent amount of it yeah, why? You don't like reading?"  
That wasn't what she'd meant but she couldn't help but be impressed by it. It was clear by the way he handled the books that he really liked reading and Cass had to admire that. She was still working on reading and she thought it was very hard which had given her a new appreciation for people who read for fun. "It's hard." She then answered his question.  
He nodded in understanding. "You're still learning that too, aren't you?"  
After nodding Cass continued to put the books back where they belonged and felt a bit embarrassed that she had still trouble reading children's books while her brother was reading books like these.  
Jason must have felt her uneasiness because he came to her and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder before speaking. "Hey Cass, it's okay. It's not your fault and you want to learn, right?"  
She nodded and looked up at him.  
"Well no one can blame you then. I bet you tried to learn it the first opportunity you got. Who's teaching you right now?"  
"Barbara."  
"Yeah, she's a good teacher. She tutored me for a while, you know. When I had just come to live with Bruce and he wanted me to catch up on everything I had missed while being on the street. It was mainly math that I needed help with but sometimes she'd help me with other things too." He told her with a fond smile.  
Cass was perplexed. "You needed that?"  
He looked at her "Yeah sure, I mean when you miss a year it's not like you can just do it all on your own, no matter how much I would have liked that. And no way was Bruce gonna let me do the year over." he said and shrugged.  
Cass had never thought about that before. "What grade are you going to do now?" she asked.  
Jason shrugged again "Don't know. I'm legally dead and I missed quite some years but I was in sophomore year so probably there."  
Cass frowned "You were in high school?" Weren't you too young?"  
He laughed a bit nervously "I was the youngest person in my year." Then he put the last book back. "How about we go back to my room now. There are still some things I'd like to take with me." When he noticed she didn't move he added "You can come with if you want."  
"Okay" she agreed and they left the library.

Damian was left with Batman and Nightwing when Todd left and Batgirl (Cass?) followed him. The three of them stood there in a rather uncomfortable silence and Damian was just about to follow Todd, to hell with the fact that he didn't know where his room was when Ducra reappeared. There was no other word to describe how she wasn't there one moment and was the next one without anyone noticing her before she was right in front of them. Then Ducra spoke to him "So you are here too, young heir of the Demon.  
Damian nodded "Yes, mother had me guide them here."  
She nodded and was about to walk on when Nightwing said.  
"Um sir?"  
Ducra looked up irritated "They are definitely family." and Damian snorted.  
"Idiot, she's a woman."  
Then Batman spoke up. "Did you train my son?"  
"My pup? Yes, we trained him. He's now a member of the All-Caste."  
Batman frowned at the woman's nickname for Jason before replying "I've never heard of this All-Caste. Could you tell me some things about it?"  
"So you want to know what he learned here?"  
Batman looked like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar but still said "Yes".  
"Well, obviously he had to learn to control his emotions. Was really necessary with the pit coursing through his veins. And he's been trained as a warrior to kill the Untitled. And before you ask the Untitled are a group of powerful beings set on controlling the earth. The All-Caste has held them at bay for millennia and your son is the first human in a thousand years to be worthy of the power to fight them."  
Batman looked perplexed. "You taught my son to kill."  
She didn't even look fazed. "Yes"  
Batman gritted his teeth. "You taught a child how to kill. You don't see anything wrong with that?"  
Ducra huffed "There are children much younger than him who learn to kill. Take that girl you have with you for example. She was born to become a killer, did she not? Now if you'll excuse me." and with that she shuffled away.  
Damian ran after her and had to be impressed by the distance he had to run before he caught up with her. He then asked "Could you please tell me where Todd's rooms are?"  
She nodded and smiled as if she knew something that he didn't. "Follow me."

For the people who don't know who Ducra is I'd recommend reading 'Red Hood and The Outlaws'.

For who's interested I also added a new chapter to 'Justice or revenge'


	11. Chapter 11

Here's the new chapter, hope you like it. Please follow and/or review. I want to thank anyone who did that already. Enjoy!

* * *

When Jason and Cass got back to Jason's room they were surprised to see Damian there, leaning against the door.  
"I was wondering when you would be back. I've been waiting here for at least ten minutes!" Damian said and even though it was barely visible because of his hood Jason knew he was scowling at them.  
"Well little prince" Jason snickered "That's too bad but I had a few books …" a sideway glance at Cass made him rephrase "Okay a lot of books that I had to bring back to the library. But what are you doing here? Had enough of mister Brooding and Wingnut?"  
Damian huffed "I think they were having a silent conversation but then Ducra came by and Batman started asking her all kinds of questions but she didn't like it so after a few she left and I followed to ask her where your room was."  
Jason could see him trying to look confident but knew that Damian was actually afraid to be told to go away. "Okay, you can help me clear out my room if you want."  
Damian shrugged as if he couldn't care less but Jason could see past it. He motioned Damian to move away from the door so he could open it and let Damian enter the room first. He was just about to follow when Cass tapped his shoulder. "Cass?"  
"How do you know him?"  
"Damian? He was there when I can out of the pit and even before that. I guess he kind of became my little brother."  
She looked surprised but nodded and followed him inside where Damian was already waiting for them.  
"Your room is a mess, Todd." The child huffed with his arms crossed and a look of disgust on his face which made Cass smile at his antics.  
Jason simply said "Well, yeah! I'm a teenager, I have the right to have a messy room." with a big grin on his face before starting to pick up all the clothes that littered the floor. Cass was pretty that he had more clothes on the floor then in his closet. Jason put all the clothes on the bed and started sorting them out.  
Damian clearly didn't understand what he was doing as he asked "What are you doing?"  
Jason looked up. "Hmm? I'm dividing them in my clothes and the training outfits from the All-Caste. I have to leave the training clothes here as they aren't mine except for the uniform I got after the cleansing during the ceremony today, that one is mine."  
Cass nodded and asked "Which are yours?"  
Jason pointed at the smallest heap and Cass started folding them and putting them in the backpack Jason got from underneath the bed. When that was done Jason walked towards the closet to take out a last pair of clothes out. "I'm gonna change into something better suiting for the weather in the mountains." Then he disappeared into the attached bathroom leaving Cass and Damian alone in the room.  
When he re-emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later he saw them standing exactly like they had when he left which made him laugh. Cass looked at him questioningly and Damian simply scowled, at least that was what it looked like from the small part of his face that was visible underneath his hood. Jason took his backpack from the bed and put the uniform in saying "Sorry but you were just standing there like real life statues." Then he looked through the room. "I guess we're done here. Let's go find B." he and walked towards the door. Damian and Cass followed and Cass closed the door behind them.

After Damian and Ducra had gone out of sight Duck turned to Bruce. "You don't think Jason has killed anyone, do you?"  
If he was honest to himself Bruce wasn't too sure of that. Mostly because of the incident with Felipe Garzonas two and a half year before. He had never told anyone else about that and he wasn't planning on doing that now. Especially since he still didn't know if Jason had actually pushed the man or not. He'd never asked Jason what had happened after that fateful night and the boy hadn't brought it up either. And then Jason had died and Bruce didn't want to think about it anymore. So he answered Dick "I don't know."  
Dick then looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "What will you do if he has?"  
The thought alone made Bruce feel cold. "I have absolutely no idea … for the moment I'm just hoping he hasn't."  
Then they were both silent, thinking about everything that had already happened that day. Then Dick started looking around, trying to get wise of their surroundings. He figured that they were probably in another dimension but when he looked around it seemed like he was in some kind of eastern monastery. Everything was beautifully carved and looked really old but so did that woman as well. How old would she be? He'd have to ask Jason, his brother might have an answer to that. Then he saw Jason, Cass and Damian coming so he tapped Bruce on the shoulder to alert him of the coming trio. Bruce turned around towards them. "Ready to go?" The three of them nodded but then Jason seemed to reconsider and shook his head.  
"Give me ten minutes, I'm going to say my goodbye to Ducra."  
Before they could say anything he was gone.  
Damian sighed. "Great, now we have to go looking for that moron."  
"No, he said he'd be back in ten minutes, at least give him that." Dick said with a pleading look towards Bruce.  
Bruce nodded and Damian then huffed "tt" but didn't say anything else.

Jason found Ducra with S'Aru the Proctor, talking about something. He waited until they noticed him before speaking. "I wanted to say goodbye and thank you before I left, Ducra." He then bowed for her.  
Ducra grinned. "Heh, at least you learned something here."  
He laughed and said "Goodbye Ducra, S'Aru."  
"Farewell Jason." Ducra answered and S'Aru simply waved.  
Then Jason walked away to go look for his family while thinking about how this was one of the few times Ducra had called him by his name.  
When he got back to the path were the others were Dick immediately slung an arm around his shoulders. "We were just gonna go looking for you."  
Jason arched an eyebrow. "I did say I'd be back in ten minutes."  
"Well, it's not like we had a way to measure time."  
Jason rolled his eyes but felt smile the urge to smile. He would never admit it out loud but he had actually missed Dick and his banter.  
Bruce gave him an awkward sort of pat on the shoulder before heading towards the plaza with the entrance. The rest of them followed with Dick and Jason last. Dick was constantly talking about all sorts of things with Jason kind of ignoring him, just humming or nodding when he thought he was supposed to.  
When they got to the portal Dick was about to simply walk through but Jason pulled him back. "Careful Wingnut. The portal moves through the mountains so you don't know where you'll reappear. You have to be ready for anything." With that Jason stepped forward and found himself suddenly about thirty feet above the ground so he flipped mid-air and landed in a crouch. A moment later Dick appeared but he landed face first in the snow.  
Jason snickered and helped him up. "Told you to be prepared."  
"You couldn't warn me that it could be above the ground?" Dick grumbled.  
Jason shrugged and walked to the rest of their group. Dick followed him while attempting to get all the snow out of his face and his hair. Then he heard laughing and saw Cass and Damian laughing at his expense, Jason still had a lopsided grin on his face and even Bruce looked like he was struggling not to smile. He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. It was pretty funny. Can we please go now?"  
Bruce gave a nod and followed Damian who started in a certain direction. They all followed until then heard Jason. "Um guys? It's the opposite direction. Unless you want to take the road that's twice as long, of course." Dick, who was closest to him, could see a mischievous glint in his eyes at that last part.  
They started in the direction Jason had suggested and Damian was glooming because he'd been wrong. Clearly Jason had noticed him doing that because he said "Hey Damian, your road was right too, it was the one we took on the way here with Talia. This one is just shorter."  
Damian looked up. "You mean that mother doesn't know this road?"  
"I suppose not."  
Instantly Damian's bad mood was gone and he speeded up to catch up to Jason who was now leading the way.

When they arrived at the All Guhl stronghold they dropped off their warm clothes before leaving with the jet.  
Once they were in the air and the seatbelts were no longer needed Dick, Cass and Damian, who would go back to Gotham with them, went to the back of the plane where the TV was situated. Jason went to the cockpit, to Bruce.  
"Bruce?"  
"Yes, what is it Jason?" Bruce answered while putting the plane on autopilot so he could look at Jason. He was surprised by how vulnerable the boy looked. "You can sit down next to me if you want."  
Jason sat in the chair and looked up at Bruce but didn't seem to know what to say.  
Bruce looked at him, for the first time that day he really looked at his son. He was surprised by how Jason looked like a regular 15 year old boy. You could already see that he would be quite tall, definitely taller than Dick. He was a bit more muscular than you'd expect a growing boy to do but that wasn't really a surprise considering who he was. His hair was longer than it used to be and his face wasn't as childlike as it had been two years ago. He looked like a normal, healthy teenager except for his eyes. His eyes were those of a much older person, someone who'd seen cruelty to spare but at the same time his eyes where the same as they had been too. They still held that fire that said he wasn't a quitter, that he would never give up. All in all he did and did not look like the boy he had been two years ago, the boy Bruce had failed to save.  
Then Jason asked "Why now?" and when Bruce didn't answer. "Why did you come now? Why would you even come for me at all?"  
Bruce noticed how Jason looked even more vulnerable now. It reminded him of how he had found him at the age of nine in a condemned apartment in Crime Alley after he'd stolen three tires of the Batmobile. Jason was clearly afraid of the answer he might get which in turn made Bruce afraid to give the wrong answer. He felt like he had to be really careful if he didn't want to disappoint or even worse drive away Jason. "A week ago we didn't even know you were alive, Jason." Bruce started. What do you remember between two years ago and now?"  
Jason frowned at the change of subject, then swallowed. "That I woke up in the dark and had to make my way out of my own coffin. Then not really a lot, only a few flashes, mostly Talia, until the pit. Why?"  
Bruce sighed. "I want you to know that if I had known I had been there but the gravesite looked normal and the sensors I had placed to alert me if someone opened the coffin where designed to be activated when someone tried from the outside, not the inside. It was when we needed a DNA-sample from you that we found out you were gone. That was a week ago and since then all of us have been looking for clues that might tell us where you were. You have to believe me when I tell you that if there had been a way to get you back I would have taken it, you are my son and you always will be."  
"You mean that?" Jason asked in a still uncertain voice.  
"Every word." For once Bruce had a feeling that he'd found the right words to express his feelings, not something he excelled at.  
The next moment Jason had his arms around Bruce and his face buried in his chest. "Thanks… dad."  
Bruce cracked a relieved smile and hugged Jason back. "Always Jason, always."

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If anyone's interested, I also posted a new chapter for my other fic: Justice or Revenge.


	12. Chapter 12

Here's a new chapter, I hope you like it. If you do please don't hesitate to review and/or follow, and as always thanks to anyone who already did that. Enjoy!

Bruce made sure to strap Jason, who had fallen asleep, in before disengaging the autopilot to land. When he was certain everyone in the plane was buckled in he set in the landing, steering for a private landings strip, directly connected to the Bat Cave by a secret entrance.  
When they were on the ground Bruce didn't want to wake up Jason so he picked him up and carried him out of the plane.  
Dick stood waiting outside and when he saw him with Jason in his arms he shot Bruce a concerned look but Bruce shook his head before saying "He fell asleep. I didn't want to wake him up so I decided to take him upstairs. You go tell the others to wait for me here and I'll be back in a few minutes.  
Dick nodded and walked towards the platform where Damian and Cass where waiting for them.  
Bruce went the other way towards the stairs out of the Cave. He mounted the stairs cradling Jason close to his chest and after he'd gone through the entrance to the library he went to a living room and put Jason down on a couch. He then heard Alfred come in and saw that he instantly looked concerned at the sight of the sleeping boy on the couch. Bruce saw his look and gave his father figure a relieved smile.  
"He's okay. I think the emotional turmoil was just too much." He looked at his son sleep for a moment until Alfred put a fleece plaid over Jason.  
"I believe you are needed downstairs, sir. I'll stay with the young master and alert you if he awakens." Alfred told Bruce with a knowing look in his eyes.  
Bruce sighed and tried to rake a hand through his hair before he noticed he was still wearing the cowl. He'd been so invested in Jason that he'd failed to notice he was still in uniform. He nodded and mumbled "Thanks" to Alfred before brushing a lock of hair out of Jason's face and staking of once more in the direction of the study to re-join the others in the Cave.  
Dick was waiting for him when he arrived downstairs.  
"He's okay?"  
"Yes, he's asleep and Alfred is with him."  
Dick nodded and went to Cassandra to tell her that.  
Bruce followed and when he was close enough spoke to Damian. "Okay Damian, how do you get home? Do we have to take you somewhere?"  
Damian looked up at him from underneath his hood. "I can get home from Gotham, but I'd like to say goodbye to Todd first." That last part was said with a scowl as if he thought Bruce would deny him that.  
Bruce nodded. "You can stay here and I'll Jason him you want to see him." He then sat down behind the computer and started typing in commands. When he felt Damian's eyes on him he sighed. "Dick, can you show Damian a place to rest, I'd like to work without someone looking over my shoulder the whole time.  
Dick shrugged. "Okay. Damian, follow me."  
After they were gone Bruce sighed relieved and continued working. While he was doing that a popup screen appeared sporting Oracle's logo and before Bruce could block it Barbara's face was visible. She looked concerned but hopeful at the same time.  
"How'd it go, did you find him?" She asked rather anxiously.  
Bruce looked at her and attempted to keep his face void of all emotions but he couldn't really control his voice when he said "We found him." and he intended for that to be everything he said but Barbara wasn't okay with that. So she urged.  
"Is he okay? Where is he?" And he could see that she wanted to ask a lot more questions than just these but she deemed those the most important.  
Bruce didn't look back up and kept typing but answered her all the same. "He's okay. Right now he's sleeping upstairs and Alfred's keeping an eye on him."  
She nodded as if she hadn't expected anything else but Bruce knew that she was more than a bit relieved. "Can I come over?"  
He grunted and she knew to take that as an affirmation.  
"Okay, I'll come by in a few hours."  
Then the popup closed and Barbara was gone. Bruce just kept working until he heard Dick come back. "Damian's brooding. You might want to give him something to do until he can leave."  
Bruce grunted but didn't reply, instead he said "Can you tell Alfred to prepare diner for one more person."  
"Why?"  
"Barbara's coming to see Jason."  
Dick nodded and headed towards the area where the changing rooms where located. "Okay, I'll go tell him. You make sure you don't miss diner and make Jason feel like he's unwelcome, remember that while he seems to trust you right now he didn't always. You have to give him reason to keep trusting you, starting with little things like this." Then he was gone and Bruce was left alone again with his thoughts. He knew that Dick was right and that Jason needed reassurance, needed to know that they wanted him here.

Alfred looked at his youngest charge, the boy he thought was lost to them forever. Jason was sleeping peacefully and Alfred took the opportunity to really look the boy over. He had certainly grown since the last time Alfred had seen him and while he looked really young now that he was asleep but Alfred suspected that Jason would look a lot more hardened when he was awake. Jason's hair was a bit long and he looked a bit too skinny for Alfred's liking but all in all he looked a lot better than you would expect a boy who had been dead to look.  
Alfred didn't like leaving the boy but it seemed like he would be asleep for quite a bit younger so he left the room to go make some tea, thinking that his other charges would probably need it. The water had just begun boiling when he heard a scream coming from the living room where he had left Jason. He ran towards the room and wasn't entirely surprised to see that the boy was screaming while seemingly being still asleep. He was having a nightmare. As the butler of a family consisting of traumatised people Alfred was well known with all kinds of night terrors and knew the best way of helping his charge was making him wake up. He closed in on the screaming boy who was now sitting up but with his eyes closed.  
He started talking to Jason in the hope of waking him up. "Master Jason, wake up. Master Jason." He was just about to take the boy's shoulder to shake him awake when Jason opened his eyes and stopped screaming.  
Alfred was momentarily startled by the amount of pain and rage he could see in Jason's too green eyes but then it was gone and Jason looked at him with big, surprised eyes.  
"Alfred?" Jason asked as if he wasn't sure what he was seeing was real.  
"Yes, master Jason."  
Jason blinked a few times before looking Alfred directly in the eye. "Where's Bruce?" He asked in a voice that gave away his uncertainty.  
"Master Bruce is in the Cave, but he'll be here for diner."  
Jason didn't look entirely convinced bit nodded all the same.  
Alfred then smiled tentatively. "How about we get you something to eat. You look awfully skinny."  
Jason smiled. "Yeah, I guess that'd be nice."  
Alfred then led the boy out of the room and towards the kitchen. Once they were inside they saw and certainly heard the water boiling.  
"Oh dear, I forgot about that!" Alfred remarked. He then heard Jason snort.  
"You forgetting something, Alfred? Impossible!" He said with a big grin on his face.  
Alfred smiled at the compliment but said "No one is infallible, master Jason, and certainly not me."  
Jason looked completely serious when he replied. "You're about the best man I know, Alfred. And I don't think there are a lot of people who could do what you do on a daily basis."  
Alfred showed his surprise for a moment, he hadn't expected such a heartfelt statement. Then he clapped his hands together. "You make some tea while I go look for something for you to eat."  
Jason nodded " 'Kay" and opened the cupboard containing the tea.  
Knowing that Jason was quite capable of making tea Alfred walked to the other side of the kitchen to make some sandwiches

When Cass heard from Dick that Jason was upstairs with Alfred she changed out of her uniform to go to them. When she entered Bruce's study she heard screaming but it stopped before she could do anything. A bit later she heard Jason and Alfred pass by the study on their way to the kitchen. She closed the entrance to the Cave and decided to follow them.  
When she got to there she saw Jason rummaging through a cupboard but when she came closer he looked up. "Hey Cass, I'm making tea. You want some?" He asked with a lopsided grin on his face.  
Cass noticed that she actually was thirsty so she nodded.  
"Okay, the tea will be ready in a few minutes." Jason said while putting the tea in the teapot that was already filled with hot water. "Could you get some cups?" He then asked while taking the tea to the table on the far side of the kitchen.  
She nodded and went looking for them. After going through half a dozen cupboards Jason must have noticed that she didn't know where to find the cups and came to help her.  
"You don't come here often, do you?" He asked Cass.  
"No" She answered feeling a bit ashamed.  
He saw that and asked "Why?" while taking three cups out of a cupboard on the opposite side of where she had been looking.  
"I live with Barbara." She said, not really willing to say more.  
Jason seemed to understand that and didn't ask more. He did however make a mental note to ask Dick or Alfred about it later. For now he first had to find Alfred to tell him the tea was ready.  
As if called Alfred appeared behind Cass holding a plate with sandwiches.  
The amount of sandwiches made Jason realize that Alfred had been serious when he had said that Jason looked skinny.  
Alfred motioned for them to sit down and placed the plate on the table. He was about to walk away to start with the preparations for diner when Jason grabbed his arm.  
"Stay and drink at least one cup of tea with us." He asked with a pout on his face. "I'll help you with making diner afterwards."  
Alfred smiled affectionately and thought about how much he had missed Jason. The boy had always been eager to help him and was one of the only people Alfred allowed in the kitchen. This had of course something to do with how Bruce couldn't cook to save his life and that one time when Dick had almost blown up the kitchen when he tried to make a cake. "Okay master Jason, I'll drink a cup of tea." He said and pulled out a chair to sit down.  
Jason smiled brightly and took the teapot to pour everyone a cup. Then he took a sandwich and took a bite out of it. That was the moment he noticed how hungry he actually was. He finished that sandwich quickly before starting on another. Then he saw how Cass was laughing silently with him, she was also eating a sandwich but she'd only taken a few bites of her first and he was almost done with his second sandwich and had been about to take another. He raised an eyebrow and she snorted.  
Then Alfred spoke up. "I have to agree, master Jason. The way you are eating those sandwiches makes it seem like you are famished."  
Jason shrugged. "Just hungry."  
Alfred smiled and finished his cup. Then he stood up and walked towards the kitchen counter to start with cooking.  
Jason quickly drank the last bit of his tea and took another sandwich before following Alfred.  
Alfred gave him a knife and instructed him to cut the vegetables he needed.  
Jason then went back to the table and asked Cass if she wanted to help. Cass nodded and he conjured another knife out of nowhere and handed it to her. They both started cutting and Jason quickly made it into a competition to see who was the fastest.


	13. Chapter 13

Here's my Christmas present for you guys, I meant to post it yesterday but there weren't done so second day of Christmas will have to do. A new chapter for 'Related' and 'Justice or Revenge?' and the prologue to a new story that I'm writing 'Red daughter'. Merry Christmas and please let me know what you think. And thanks to anyone who left a review earlier. Enjoy!

* * *

When Dick got upstairs he started looking for Alfred but soon concluded he couldn't find him. The only places he hadn't looked were the kitchen and Alfred's bedroom. The bedroom because no one dared to come there and the kitchen because he wasn't allowed to set foot there. Personally he didn't think that was fair, he'd only set the kitchen on fire once and it had been when he had been twelve, now he was twenty-three. Wasn't it time to give him another chance? But that didn't mean he was just going in there and risk his life (make no mistake: an angry Alfred is scary!) but he knew that he didn't really have a choice so he went to the kitchen anyway.  
Once there he stood in the entrance (really not entering) and looked inside from there. He saw Jay and Cass cutting vegetables but no Alfred.  
"Hey guys, do you know where Alfred is?"  
Jason was the one to answer. "Yeah, he's in the garden to get some herbs for the soup. Why?"  
"Just needed to tell him something."  
"I could relay the message if you want?"  
Dick contemplated that idea. On one hand it would mean that he could go and didn't risk being caught by Alfred somewhere he wasn't supposed to come, but on the other hand he felt like it might be a nice surprise for Jason if Barbara showed up unannounced. In the end self-preservation on out and he told his brother to tell Alfred that Babs was coming over for dinner.  
Jason's face lit up at that and he said that he would tell Alfred when he was back.  
Then Dick left, relieved until he thought about the fact that he would probably have to keep an eye on Damian for as long as the boy stayed with them.

Barbara sighed as she ended her conversation with Bruce. How could he not be with Jason right then, she knew that the moment she saw him she wouldn't let him out of her sights for quite some time. She had really missed him and she knew that she wasn't the only one, if she had to guess she would say that Alfred was with him right now. Alfred had never really said anything about it but they all knew that he had missed his youngest charge immensely. He'd been really fond of the boy and his death had hit him hard, even if he hadn't talked to anyone about it.  
She was curious to how Jason would be. He'd been only thirteen when he died and now he should be almost sixteen. How would he look? She kind of hoped that he would still look a bit cute, she'd always loved to tease him about that. He'd been like the little brother to her that her real brother, James, never was. James had been a bit creepy, even as a little child so she hadn't liked being near him when she didn't have to. But Jason had been this cute and sweet little boy that never liked to be called any of that because he wanted to be big and tough before he had to. Of course she knew that living on the streets in Crime Alley had forced him to grow up too fast but she loved it when parts of the little boy that he was came out. The moments where he let his guard down and showed a bit of who he really was. Mostly that had been when he was exhausted and half asleep and didn't really have a filter between his brain and his mouth.  
Then she reminded herself that it wasn't very likely that Bruce was going to tell Tim anything and that she should probably do that so she called the newest Robin.  
"Hey Tim, just wanted to tell you that Bruce and the others are back. And that you won't be able  
to reach me this evening because I'm going to them. Please call me tomorrow if you need me." She spoke into his voicemail when he didn't pick up, which was really not like him at all but she didn't think much of it because he had said that his father had been asking to spend time with him during Spring Break. So they were probably doing something together and Tim would check his phone in the evening and contact her.  
Now she had to make sure to be at Wayne Mansion in time to see Jason and enjoy one of Alfred's amazing dinner. She decided to just get ready right away and go there early to go see Jason; she really couldn't find the patience to wait any longer. She left a note for her dad in case he came to see her and found the house empty and then she left for the Mansion.

Dick heard someone pull up the driveway and went out to see who it was. There he saw Babs's car come to a stop and he went over there to greet her.  
"Hey Babs, hadn't expected you this early."  
"Yeah, I know but I didn't really have anything else to do and I've got my phone with me in case someone needs me. And I guess that Bruce is already monitoring everything that's going down in Gotham so no use in doing exactly the same thing, right?"  
"Right. Come on in, then I'll bring you to Jason. I guess you came early primarily for him, didn't you?"  
"Kinda, how is he? Because Bruce wasn't really talkative when I spoke him."  
"When is he ever? And Jason seems all right but I think he's trying to keep a brave face for us. I just hope that he'll open up before it tears him apart from the inside out. But you know him, expressing his feelings was never his strongest suit."  
"Yeah, I guess I do know him on that point." She answered when they got inside, she was about to say some more when she noticed a child that couldn't be even ten glaring at them. Dick must have noticed her eyes on him because he quickly explained.  
"That's Damian, he's Talia Al Guhl's son and helped us find Jason so he's staying with us until he can get home. And Bruce has me keeping an eye on him."  
She nodded. The kid sure looked like an Al Guhl in the way he was looking down on them even though he was way smaller.  
Dick sighed. "I think I have to stay with him and finish the tour of the house I was giving him or he's gonna do more than just glare at everyone. You should be able to find Jason on your own, last I knew he was in the kitchen." He whispered.  
Her first reaction was to snort, but then she realized that he was serious so she nodded. "Okay." She whispered and he looked back with a very grateful look.  
"Great, I'll see you during dinner." And Damian and Dick were gone.  
She then continued on her own towards the kitchen. Once she got close she heard voices. She could make out Cass's small voice, Alfred's was easily recognizable too and then at last she heard a voice she hadn't hoped she would hear ever again. It was a bit lower than it had been two years ago but it was still clearly Jason. She rolled into the kitchen and was met with the sight of the three of them laughing but then Jason whipped his head around and the smile disappeared from his face.  
"Babs." He said and the next moment he was hugging her. "Dick, told me that you weren't Batgirl anymore but he wouldn't tell me why but I guess I know why now, you okay?"  
She snickered. "Shouldn't I be the one to ask you that, you are the one no one of us has seen in over two years? But yes, I am okay. How are you?"  
He shrugged. "Okay, I guess. I'm alive, I'm back home and I found out that I have a sister." He looked at Alfred and Cass with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Something else that I may have missed?"  
"No, master Jason, I believe you summarized it all quite well." Alfred answered in the even tone he almost always maintained but Barbara could see the joy in his eyes.  
"Well, I for one am happy about that." She said before pulling him in for another hug.  
Then he asked "What did actually happen to you?" while pointing towards her wheelchair. "Because Dick said you would want to tell me yourself and nothing anything else."  
She smiled wistfully, _of course_ he wanted to know that, although she was thankful that Dick didn't tell it for her. "It's actually a long story, you sure you want to hear it now? Is there even enough time left for dinner?" She said sending a pleading look Alfred's way, but Alfred didn't acknowledge it.  
"You still have about thirty minutes before dinner is ready miss Barbara, I'd say that is quite enough to at least start, is it not?"  
She sighed. "Yeah, I guess it is." And rolled out of the kitchen, motioning Jason to follow her.  
Jason had watched the ordeal very carefully and Babs's behaviour confused him, she'd always faced a target head on. And you didn't just change someone's personality so what could possibly have happened to change that about her? Then she left and Jason waved at the two remaining people in the kitchen. "See you at dinner, Cass, Alfie." And followed the former Batgirl.

Barbara led Jason to the library where he sat down in a chair and waited for her to start.  
She looked at him, not knowing how to tell him about what the Joker had done. She knew that there wasn't a big chance that he would take it well and especially the timing would make him feel kind like he was at least partly responsible. "It actually happened right after you run away. I was home with my father when the doorbell rang and I went to get it. What I didn't expect was for it to be the Joker, he shot me and kidnapped my father."  
"You mean that clown-faced son of a bitch did this to you?" He said with clear sparks of anger in his eyes and Barbara thought she saw his eyes turn a shade greener as well.  
"Yes, but let me continue." She answered. "He tried to turn my father crazy by showing him pictures of me that he had token after he shot me. He told my dad that I was probably dead but actually someone must have heard the shot because the police had gotten an anonymous call and they found me in time to get me to the hospital. That call is what saved my live but since the bullet went through my spine I can't move my legs anymore. In the end Batman saved my dad but the Joker escaped to Ethiopia and I guess that you know what he did there. The next I knew I woke up with Dick and my dad next to my bed. Dick had evidently been crying and at first I thought that was because of me but when my dad left he told me what had happened to you. I'd been unconscious the whole time and he told me that until that moment he'd been terrified to lose not one but two of the most important people in his life." She rubbed her eyes and saw that he was staring at her with an open mouthed expression. "He had been in space and when he came back he found out that you had died and that I was fighting for my life. And Bruce, Bruce lost himself after that. He followed every possible lead to find the Joker and when he at long last did, he tried to kill him. He even would have succeeded if Clark hadn't stopped him."  
"Superman?" Jason asked with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Clark – Superman – Kent had to stop B from killing the Joker? Over us? He would have broken his sacred rule for the two of us?"  
She smiled ruefully. "Yes, he broke about every bone in the Joker's body before Clark stopped him and he then broke a hand trying to get past Clark. As I said he lost it. The months after that he was really reckless and it seemed like he had a dead wish, it's only because of Tim that he was able to come back from that state of mind."  
He looked at her with an incredulous look on his face before speeding out of the room. She called after him, afraid that he was going to do something stupid and tried to follow him.

Jason ran to study, descended the stairs and ran to the computer where Bruce was. There he punched the man right in the face before hugging him. "Don't you dare to try and kill yourself over me ever again!" He said with a quivering voice and started sobbing while burying his head in his father's chest.  
Bruce was stumped but embraced his son. He didn't know what had brought this on and his jaw hurt from the punch he had received but he held the sobbing boy close.

* * *

Okay, this wasn't how I intended this chapter to go but I hope you like it all the same.  
If you find any mistakes in my spelling or use of expressions, please tell me.


	14. Chapter 14

_Here is finally a new chapter, I'm really sorry that it took me this long and I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter. Anyway, enjoy._

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Barbara was getting worried. She'd gone through most of the mansion searching for Jason and she still hadn't found him. He hadn't been in the kitchen, that had been the first place she'd looked, hoping that he had gone back there after running out on her, but he hadn't. Now she was upstairs again, going through the rooms there, hoping to find him. She had just entered a wing she was pretty sure she had never been in before when she heard voices.

"No, Damian, you can't go in there."

"Why can't I go in there?"

"Because I say you can't."

"Tt, I don't have to listen to you."

Dick and that little boy, Damian! Dick must have brought Damian there in his tour of the mansion but Damian clearly wanted more than what he got. Maybe they had seen Jason? She went in the direction the voices came from and found them in a pretty hilarious situation, with Dick trying to hold a door closed while Damian was attacking him from all sides, trying to open the door. She spoke up.

"Hey guys, have you seen Jason?"

She had barely ended speaking when Damian turned that murderous glare of his on her.

"Are you talking about Todd?"

Barbara shot Dick a pleading look. "Yes, have you seen him?"

"You lost him!" Damian's already dangerous glare hardened and despite everything Barbara couldn't help but wonder why that glare seemed so familiar.

"Why are you looking at me like that, you insolent woman? Why are you not looking for Todd?"

For a moment, Barbara was afraid that he was going to attack her and that she would have to hurt a little boy but, luckily, Dick interfered.

"Why don't we all go looking for Jason? I'm sure Babs wants him found as much as you do, Damian. Don't you, Babs?"

She nodded. "Of course I do."

Damian looked stoic again. "Then I'll permit you both to help."

He turned towards her. "Tell me where you saw Todd last if you don't wish to be completely useless."

Barbara suppressed the urge to start calling him names, he was going to help after all.

"We were upstairs when he ran off and I've looked in in the kitchen and almost every room on this floor but I was actually hoping that you might know where he is."

Dick had a thoughtful look on his face. "Have you asked Alfred?"

"No, not yet. Do you think I should?"

"You'd be surprised by the things he knows so it might not be the worst idea. And who knows Jason might just have gone to him, he often did when he was upset."

"You're right."

She turned to go downstairs and Dick fell in beside her.

"have you asked Bruce?"

She gave him a skeptical look. "What do you think? He didn't even want me here in the first place."

"Why so surprised." They heard Damian mumbling behind them.

Barbara was about to give him a piece of her mind when Dick put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not worth it, Babs. And besides, he's just a little kid."

She sighed. "How do you manage to stay so calm around him? I've only talked with him a few minutes and I already want to strangle him."

Dick smiled a little secretive smile. "I guess he likes me better."

Barbara snorted. "Yeah, sure he does."

She glanced back at Damian. "I don't think he likes anyone very much."

Dick shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that's not true, Jason seems to be pretty important to him."

"You do know that I can hear you talking about me?" Damian sounded mad.

Honestly Barbara had forgotten that he was walking behind them but it was Dick who stopped to answer Damian.

"Yes, we do but don't you do the same thing about us?"

Barbara was getting impatient. "Come on. I'd like to find Jason today if that's alright with you."

Dick was back at her side almost immediately. "Of course."

And somehow Damian was now in front of them. "Tt, I'm only waiting for you two morons."

"How did Talia ever manage to raise a brat with such bad manners, even Jason was better behaved when I first met him." Dick whispered in her ear.

She snorted. "You're right, it sure is an accomplishment."

* * *

Bruce had gone back to his work after Jason had calmed down, or at least he tried to concentrate on his work but it wasn't easy with Jason in the Cave, exploring and noting everything that had been changed. So far Jason had inspected a blueprint for a new Batmobile and found its security lacking. He'd been excited about the plans for a new jet (he'd also asked for a jet of his own) and was now inspecting the new uniforms. Bruce was now getting to the point where he really wanted to know why Jason was so interested in the uniforms.

"And Jason. What do you think? Do they get your stamp of approval?"

The speed at which Jason looked up told Bruce that he'd most likely forgotten that he wasn't alone in the Cave and the way his eyes had widened only confirmed it.

"Um… they seem to offer a lot more protection than they used to?" Jason seemed unsure as he said it.

Bruce nodded. "I have worked very hard to get them that way."

He sighed when Jason didn't really react. "But Jay, what is really bothering you about our uniforms?"

Jason bit his lip. "It's just… you have all these cool suits and that new Robin and a good team but… I want to be – um, I want to be someone too and I feel like you don't need me anymore. That you don't want me anymore. I've lived here with you as my father figure for over two years and I know that a lot has changed since then but I just want to go back to that, to when things were simple. And I know we can't and seeing these uniforms just made me realize that."  
He looked a bit forlorn. "I just want to be a hero again. But I'm probably not even worthy of being one anymore, not after disobeying you and getting myself killed because of it."

During Jason's monologue Bruce had crossed the room and by the time Jason was done he took him in his arms.

"You're right, Jason, but you are also completely wrong. I don't want you out there anymore but it's not for the reasons that you think. Absolutely not. If you ask me, there aren't many people who are as worthy of being a hero as you are, but I just want to keep you safe."  
He sighed. "A week ago, I still thought that I had lost you forever. That I was never going to see my son again and now that I've got you back I just don't want to let you go. But… I also know that I can't keep you here forever, that I can't control you. You've shown me that enough times in the past. So, I'm going to give you a chance to be a hero again on two conditions. Firstly, I get to test you to make sure that you are ready and secondly, you're not going out on your own, you always have to have a partner with you."

Bruce could see that Jason was getting ready to protest.

"And I'm serious, Jason. As long as I'm able to I'll do everything I can to protect you, whether you like it or not. And if that means giving you a partner for as long as I can, well then that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Bruce looked at Jason with the most severe parental look he could muster until Jason sighed and seemed to deflate.

"Fine, if I get to go out in the field again."

He turned a piercing glare on Bruce.

'But you do promise that you will let me, right?"

Bruce nodded. "Yes, as long as you follow my rules."

Jason grinned. "I can do that."

"Well then you'd better make sure you ace the test that I'm going to give or you won't even have to."

That seemed to be enough to bring out the cocky boy that Jason had been. "Bring it on, I can take anything you throw at me."

Bruce smiled. "Then you'd better think about who you're going to be out there."

That threw Jason off for a moment; "Oh right, I have to invent a new identity. I don't suppose I could just ask the new kid to give me Robin back, right?"

Bruce grimaced. "I'm pretty sure he would do it if you asked him but please, Jason, don't. he has worked very hard to become Robin and it wouldn't be fair to take it away from him. He has earned it."

That was clearly not the right thing to say as Bruce could see Jason tense up the moment he said it. His eyes even seemed to glow a poisonous green.

"What? You mean less fair than me losing my spot to a random kid just because I got killed by a psychotic maniac?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it. And this kid, his name is Tim by the way, didn't take your place. Yes, he is Robin now and my partner but you are my son and no one will ever replace you there, no one ever could."

Jason seemed to become smaller again as the rage left his body as quick as it had entered it. He smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Bruce. I don't really know why I reacted like that but thanks for saying that."

Bruce put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "It's okay, Jason, you have every right to be angry about what happened to you. Especially at me, I was supposed to be your father, I should have protected you, but I couldn't and I am so, so sorry for that. I'll never forgive myself for not being there for you when you needed me most."

Jason shrugged. "It's not your fault, I was the one who ran away on a halfcocked search for my biologic al mother and I am the one who disobeyed you when you told me to stay put."

"Yes, but I knew – know you so I should have known that you were going to do just that."

Jason shot him a smile as wide as the Cheshire cat's. "And here I was hoping to be at least a little bit unpredictable."

Bruce smiled back, but with a completely different kind of smile. "I'd say we've had enough surprises from you to last us a lifetime. You're one of the most unpredictable people I know, Jason, and that's saying something considering the kind of people I tend to meet. Your impulsivity is what makes you very sincere in almost everything you do and say, an admirable quality, but it also makes you, as said before, unpredictable and even dangerous. And that's good when it comes to fighting criminals, but less so when it makes you a danger to yourself and the people closest to you. And I know that you will never do anything to hurt someone on purpose but that doesn't mean it can't happen. That's the reason I always tell you to think before you act, not because I think you are dumb or anything of the sort as you seem to believe, but because you tend to act in the spur of the moment and not always rationally."

"How do you – Dick told you, didn't he? Oh, I'm going to kill him."

"Can I help?" A young voice chirped up from the ceiling.

Jason shrugged. "Sure, Dami. We can do it together."

Bruce didn't know what was going on but he wasn't going to let anyone murder his eldest son. "No! No! No one is going to kill anyone. And Jason, you are certainly not going to kill your brother."

Jason snorted. "You do know that he would do it, right?" He turned his look up to the ceiling. "You would, wouldn't you, Dami?"

Damian came falling from the ceiling and landed in a perfect crouch. "Tt, of course, you know I would."

Jason grinned that same Cheshire grin at Bruce. "See, if I ever wished to commit a murder I would have the perfect accomplice."

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. He was not going to survive a team-up of these two, and how was Damian even here? He had tasked Dick with showing him around and Dick was nowhere to be seen.

"Damian, where is Dick?"

"Oh, he and the redhead are looking for Todd. I got tired of their flirting so I came here for Todd."

The boy managed to say it as if it was normal and he hadn't just ditched Nightwing and Oracle. Bruce tried to keep his voice even as he replied.

"Okay, and why are they looking for Jason?"

"Tt, because Todd disappeared on the Gordon girl, of course."

Bruce threw a look at Jason, who looked appropriately guilty.

"I guess I should go and tell them that I am all right and that they can stop looking for me."

Bruce nodded. "Yes, I think that would be best."

Jason ran off in the direction of the stairs. "Okay, I'll see you at dinner."

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 _Please let me know if you liked this chapter, I appreciate any and every feedback. Thanks._


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